I have said it before, no one is anything particularly special; statistics render us reluctant replicas grasping at individuality. To know individuality, we must leave home and travel to places inhabited by those superficially different, different bodies for instance, but we quickly learn that even among those foreign to us, we can find similarities; we find family that resembles ourselves and prove the endeavor mute. We all have doppelgangers and that happens because there are only so many variations that our genes can manage. Yes, the number of variations is large but there are large populations of people scattered around the globe like colonies of ants. You are not special, neither is the narrator for that matter, and I for one am very glad to hear that. Isn’t there so much pressure being unique? Having to be the default voice for a niche of one? I find solace in knowing that I don’t have to be awesome to be perceived as such because someone like me can be awesome for an audience and I can reap the benefits when one witness to that awesomeness craves hero worship and will settle for a stand in. Sure it cuts both ways, there are men sullying my good name, but that’s when I kick in, go live to restore that good name for men like me. We are only individuals in our choices, even if others make the same ones, because we are our will and not much else after all, it is what separates us. Most of us.
The Aliarum are distinct from enough people to be considered different, though they are very similar to one another. The Aliarum come together and they can divine the tide of energies that comprise our existence; they can tap the string and the very special can ride it to illumination. To put it simply, the Aliarum can decipher future events based on the present.
An Aliarum cluster forms spontaneously, and is comprised of at least three somewhat special individuals; you can trust that there is something unusual about them if this narrator is willing to concede their difference. Sadly, though, some things are not yet clear to the narrator. It’s not completely my fault either, I can only report what the players know, and none of them can explain it very well. Not Cousins, not Moss, and not Eakran. But they have been carefully observing and as Nebuchad said last issue,
“Soon, all will be clear…“
For now, just know that the Aliarum are very special to Dr. Eakran and they represent a potential in human beings that impresses him, the Druinte who has seen things that human beings have yet to conceive.
Add the stunning Maria to the list of people who are unable to explain the Aliarum; she is completely clueless about the phenomenon. Currently, she is at a diner in rural GA and Maria finds herself talking more than usual. Maybe she feels closer to Dr. Eakran than she has been since he gave his talk at Columbia – where she should be cleaning the classrooms of Pupin Hall, but she took a break from her regular job to find him. Wendy, the woman with whom she is sharing lunch, is the receptionist of the IBF where Dr. Eakran works, and Maria must feel confident that this woman will get her a face to face meeting.
“You should have seen him. He’s an impressive man; maybe even a little bit scary. And the stuff he was talking about. It was a room full of doctors listening to his talk, but even they seemed blown away by him. He’s an unparalleled brain scientist, his work is so cutting edge its almost fringe.”
Wendy isn’t following Maria very well. The very idea of this brilliant and secretive Dr. Eakran, whom she’d never met though they both worked at the IBF, unnerved her as she contemplated why the IBF would have a secret doctor presumably doing secret research and the whole thing made her reevaluate the facility that she worked for. She knows that the IBF is staffed by world class doctors, but Wendy has enough experience in healthcare and medicine to follow the research of any doctor that requests her assistance; Eakran’s work is something else.
“I’ve been reading his papers, he led the resurgence of Delgado’s work with brain chips and now people who struggled with the loss of muscle control are finding relief with the technology. Prosthetics can be wired to the brain like real limbs and are fully operational. I read his Prospectus on Will, and I read about a woman who cured her cancer using the methods he postulates in the prospectus. It’s not a verified result, but there are similar documented cases with admittedly less effective results, but effective nonetheless. It’s like he defines the trends of medical research. I’m pretty sure he’s the reason the IBF even exists.”
We’ll pause here to analyze Maria’s statement that the IBF owes its existence to Dr. Eakran. When Thomas Eakran first started his clandestine career with the US government, he had lived in the US for about ten years and managed to be named chief of medicine at John’s Hopkins. His credentials told a story of a refugee from the Sudan who was educated and trained in Canada, but his hands on work with patients and the results he managed mesmerized his colleagues and hospital administrators around the country who quickly learned of his skills. He was tapped by the US government after publishing a series of papers that accurately predicted the rise of Autism Spectrum Disorder in America’s growing Millennial generation. “Its was obvious,” he said in interviews in the 2000’s, “as humans age, the very foundations of their bodies change, their DNA changes, it ages. More humans were having children late in life in the US and it was only a matter of deducing the seemingly spontaneous results that the aging DNA had on offspring. Physical impairments were an obvious consequence, but the effects on the brain are easy for humans to dismiss, they appear largely as exaggerated traits like shyness and due to the sheer numbers of humans it is not inconceivable that someone would trend away from the norms that those diagnosed with ASD have difficulty with. It’s easy not to see ASD for what it is, it’s the result of atypical mutation and it affects the mind’s ability to send and receive commands. Many see this as an affliction, as something to cure, but humans…we could be missing a golden opportunity to reap whatever benefits this mutation may allow.”
Eakran has a way of inspiring people, and important people who thought it long overdue for humans to have an accurate and detailed understanding of the human mind in hopes of combating the rising costs of healthcare due to the population afflicted with various cognitive illnesses, decided to do just that. The IBF was inspired by Eakran, not made for him; in fact, it took a lot of negotiation before Eakran agreed to work for the Institute. His first demand was discretion, he wanted to do work away from the public eye and with as little input from others as possible. He made it clear that he would freely share the results of his work with the US government, but insisted that his greatest insights came when he was allowed the freedom to explore his ideas. It has been a fruitful relationship so far, though some in the government wonder why a man of Eakran’s brilliance had been unable to provide workable cures for any of the conditions he studied so closely and understood so well.
Let’s get back to Maria and Wendy having lunch.
“Why did you come all the way here, though?” Wendy has lost her appetite over the course of the lunch with Maria. Her stomach is churning and it’s not because of something she ate, it’s because she knows that there is something wrong with all of this. “What can Dr. Eakran do for you?”
“I…I have a friend. She’s going through something that Dr. Eakran might be able to explain.”
“You should have her doctor refer her to the Institute, if they can help, I’m sure someone will be assigned the case. And any doctor at the Institute is a good get. But you do understand that we don’t just take walk-ins? Most of the doctors there have ongoing trials and patients that they’ve been conducting and monitoring for years.” Wendy wants to help Maria, but she senses that Maria is not being entirely truthful. “You know that, you seem to know a lot about Dr. Eakran, you must know what the IBF is.”
“I do, you’re right, and I’m not naive. I was hoping that maybe if I were here that I would bump into him. Maybe I could get a job cleaning the building or something, I could just talk to him. Learn from him.”
“You want to be a janitor at the IBF?” Wendy is surprised.
“I’m a janitor now, at a very prestigious university; I’ve got the resume for it,” Maria jokes and they both laugh.
“Maria, I don’t mean to sound rude, or paranoid, or anything like that, but I have to ask you a question and I want you to be honest. Are you a spy?” Wendy is noticeably uncomfortable as she waits for the answer.
Maria laughs and Wendy is overcome with the urge to join her, and her unease melts away.
“I promise you that I am not a spy. Honestly, the cheapest way to get an education these days is to work for places that specialize in the things you want to know.”
“So you want to be a brain scientist?” Wendy asks.
“I want to be able to understand things the way that Dr. Eakran does, I want him to change the way I think about everything.”
“What makes you think he can do that?”
Maria smirks and sips her iced tea through a straw. “He’s done it before.”
Wendy is ignoring her warning signs. She is a smarter woman than the one she is when she is with Maria. What about the friend, Wendy? Maria said she had a friend that could use the doctor’s help. Her story is changing right before your eyes. But she doesn’t see it, Wendy wants Maria to be “the most interesting person” that she tells people she met one day. She doesn’t want to admit that Maria is most likely using her.
“Excuse me ladies,” a deep voice interrupts their conversation and they look up at a man in black that neither of them know. “I was hoping for a moment of your time.” He says it to Maria, who flashes a look of concern at Wendy.
“I’m sorry sir, we were just leaving.” Maria says and then stands. Wendy does the same, but before they can leave,
“How about you both sit down and we talk for a little while. I don’t want to get mean.” The man opens his jacket and they both see the gun at his waist. “You can scream or run or whatever, but it’s not a good idea. I don’t want to hurt nobody.”
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