The PRL Event: CZS Prelude 1
AEA7
Dr. Thomas Eakran is not happy. Things had gotten messy in his lab and now he has to explain his missing assistant doctors to the few superiors that he answers to. His explanation is simple; you can’t monitor the activity and movement of all employees and sometimes they make drastic life decisions without notifying their employer. Not everyone buys the explanation, but it’s hard to question him. His security guard, Giovanni, is extremely loyal to him and helped him persuade anyone who suspected Eakran of foul play. The families of doctors Moss and Cousins filed missing persons reports, and there was some controversy after it was discovered that neither Moss nor Cousins could be spotted leaving the IBF building on security camera footage, but a thorough search of the basement and the entire facility yielded no results and investigators had no choice but to move on.
The truth is that Dr. Thomas Eakran killed Dr. Donna Moss because she betrayed his trust, and Dr. Frederick Cousins is a captive of Dr. Eakran being held against his will in the basement. This truth begs questions; what secret did Dr. Moss betray and how is Dr. Cousins a captive if investigators failed to discover him in the basement? Both questions can be answered by revealing Dr. Eakran’s greatest secret, that he is actually an alien from the technologically advanced civilization of Druintes on Earth to study the human population. His assignment is from an interstellar judicial organization, but Eakran is a scientist above all else and his preoccupation since arriving on Earth has been to understand human physiology better than ever before. This goal has led to very questionable scientific experiments that have consequences more complex than even the brilliant doctor can fathom.
Before we start the tale at hand, it must be mentioned that concepts of good and evil are largely a product of the society that defines the words. For instance, most Earthlings would view the scientific experiments of the brilliant doctor as cruel, despite any significant scientific advancement that results. Earthling ideals are generally counter to the idea of human experimentation. But the Earthling practice of animal experimentation is very widely practiced, even despite a minority of Earthlings who feel the practice barbaric or cruel. The same can be said for Eakran’s work, that the nature of his experiments are not inherently good or evil, but the evaluation of his work would depend on the point of view.
We will backtrack a bit, to the beginning of Gertrude Lillip’s story, which starts well before she was the monster she is today.
In a laboratory at Duke University, Dr. Roy Worthington worked very intently studying bacteria under a microscope. Soon, he will move on to a parasite as his second attempt to see if the human mind could be hijacked by an organism to significantly alter human behavior. That first attempt, though, was a treponema pallidum bacteria that Worthington designed himself. He wanted to produce a super bacterial disease that combined all of the properties from the various diseases caused by the bacteria, such as syphilis and yaw. The reason for this, he claimed, was merely for the purpose of scientific inquiry; by creating the super bacteria, a cure could be created that could be effective against any disease caused by that bacteria. Worthington was working to reverse engineer the super bacteria after extracting DNA samples from a person infected with all diseases caused by treponema pallidum, figuring that within this person, this super bacteria would have been naturally produced. It had worked to some extent, and Dr. Worthington was in his lab mapping the DNA of the super bacteria to see if it alone could produce all of the symptoms that the various diseases caused. In order to get this sample, though, Dr. Worthington had to find a living person with all of the treponema pallidum diseases, which theoretically could happen, and is the explanation that Worthington uses when asked, but in actuality, he had enlisted the help of the brilliant doctor Eakran to make it happen.
Worthington and Eakran’s association started shortly after Worthington received an award for his breakthroughs in ridding the bodies of pregnant women of toxoplasma, that can be contracted through contact with the feces of cats and cause birth defects or miscarriage. Eakran was impressed with the research, there is no known way to rid the human body of toxoplasma once it has been infected, and Worthington proposed theories that to Eakran demonstrated an intellectual capacity that outpaced many, if not all of his peers. When Eakran met Worthington, he was surprised that Worthington was already a big fan of his work and the two talked extensively about their theories and their future plans.
“I’m a doctor because of the potential to help people,” Worthington explained, “but just as important, and probably much more important if I am being honest, is the chance to make real discovery. I want to do things that defy human expectation. Those are the endeavors that truly change the course of human history and actually help people.”
Eakran could care less about his want to help humanity, but his talk of discovery inspired him. He had met very few humans who inspired him as Worthington did. So when he asked for his help on a project, Eakran was eager despite any ethical concerns that may arise. And ethical concerns should have been rampant for both men. Worthington explained his goal, the creation of the super bacteria, and it was Eakran’s idea to incubate all treponema pallidum diseases in one person; Eakran could easily produce the desired bacteria if he were on his home planet where he had access to technologies that he could not bring with him.
“The chances of finding a person with all those diseases, or someone willing to be infected by them, are improbable Dr. Eakran…” Worthington explained.
“Not in my lab.” Eakran smiled.
Eakran’s intellectual curiosity outweighed curiosity over Worthington’s intent. His obsession with treponema pallidum seemed odd; there was no reason to think that nature would naturally produce a super bacteria that would be a scourge on humanity, but Eakran had never done extensive work with bacteria and he was eager to see and learn more about it.
Eakran easily secured a patient to participate in a top secret study in his basement laboratory. The patient was given the treponema pallidum diseases and they were allowed to run their course for months before the super bacteria that Worthington wanted was produced. He hugged Eakran, “We are going to make the world a much better place. You are just as responsible for the work I will produce, and I will not forget that.”
Eakran studied the patient in the IBF basement for a few additional months before administering cures.
Meanwhile, Worthington went back to NC smiling from ear to ear. He called a secret meeting of an organization that he had belonged to for most of his medical career and they developed ideas for fortifying the disease with various animal DNA. Of course this work could not be done in a hospital, and one of Worthington’s associates struck a deal with the local owner of an apartment complex where they could test the effects of their super bacteria.
Crude’s transformation after touching medical equipment in one of those apartments was accidental, but the result was very interesting to Worthington and it informed the next attempt.
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