* * * * * * *
Meddling with Mother Nature sometimes takes time. Experimenting with aging, especially so. Rhesus monkeys can live to be twenty-five years old or older. Lanier and Truscott could not wait that long. Truscott, always the impatient one, eyed the “baby” rhesus. “All right. He’s obviously older than he seems. What’s the next step?”
Lanier wiped his brow, removing his “antique” glasses.
“We wait, I guess.”
“Wait for what?”
“To see how the monkey does, of course.”
“Garrett, monkeys live for years! And at, what are we
estimating here, five to one? This little guy could live to be 125! Meantime, we the researchers continue to age normally. Garrett, we ourselves may be senile or even dead before the monkey shows us anything conclusive. Then, this work, all your brilliant research, sinks into the annals of oblivion. Meantime our ‘pal’ here sits around, munching bananas while he lives to be 100! Do you really want to wait decades?”
“Well, no. But what can we do?”
Truscott ran his hand over his head. “It’s time to try this stuff on a human.”
Lanier gulped. “Who?”
“Well, myself for starters. You too, if you want. Don’t looked so startled, Garrett. Everything we’ve done so far convinces me we’ve made the serum safe for human testing. And there’s another option.”
An audible gulp. Hearing that his colleague was willing to try the serum on himself as well as on him was enough to make the normally cautious Lanier nervous enough, but he could not help asking the question. “What other option?”
“My daughter is pregnant.” The statement was matter-of-fact, without emotion, said in the same vein as when Lanier made a similar statement about his cat.
Lanier’s eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. “Good God, man! Do you mean to experiment on Sheila’s baby?”
“Well, I’m going to take it myself, after all. Garrett, if you and I use this stuff and it works it will take, what, five or ten years before we notice anything spectacular? We need an infant to prove its effectiveness more rapidly.”
“But your own grandchild!”
“So? If this works as I’m convinced it does, my daughter and her husband will have a child, and I’ll have a grandchild, who’ll have a lifetime of five times the norm. What’s wrong with that?”
“But the risk . . .”
“Nonsense! We haven’t lost an animal since we stabilized the formula. Good heavens, Bertha’s kittens are a year old and she can’t figure out why three of them still want to breast-feed! By the way, has anyone noticed?”
“The kittens? No, I’ve told the staff I gave three away. I’ve kept the, uh, ‘youngsters’ under wraps.”
“Good. So it’s time for the next phase.”
“Bernard, do you plan to tell your daughter?”
“Of course not. She probably wouldn’t approve.”
“The understatement of the year, I’m sure. And what happens when she and your son-in-law start wondering why the baby is not developing? Not to mention their pediatrician.”
“Then we’ll tell them. And then it will be too late. Garrett, if this works, we will have cheated death itself, at least for a while. Do you realize that?”
“Yes, but your own daughter.”
“For the love of God, Garrett. How did you expect us to experiment on humans? Did you think anyone would volunteer their kid for an experimental drug? And before you even ask the question, yes, it’s worth the risk, which I think is minimal. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t volunteer my own grandchild. Or myself for that matter.”
Lanier lowered his head in resignation. “How will you do this?”
“Easy. Myra and I will volunteer to baby-sit one night soon after it’s born and I will inject it when Myra’s asleep, or in the bathroom or something.” He rolled up his sleeve.
“Are you--”
“Yes. Right now.” Truscott injected himself with a dose of “the shot” and put a piece of clear material over the spot which clung immediately. He smiled as he rolled down and buttoned his sleeve. “I just provided you with the greatest testimonial of confidence and trust in your ability that any scientist could hope for. Is your faith in yourself any less than mine?”
Lanier let those words sink in for a moment. “Thank you, Bernard. You’re right. And besides, time flies, and we’ve got a monkey to keep an eye on, haven’t we?” He returned Truscott’s grin and rolled up his own sleeve.