Part 71 (1/2)

They missed the school's football game the night before because Nick didn't feel like traveling all the way back to the Kenmore area for a single football game, but he told Amy he couldn't get work off. She wasn't happy about his continued distance from her, but Nick convinced her that he had to work the night of the game to ensure he had the night of the homecoming dance off. It was an obvious lie, and it didn't help that he told it while Lauren was within earshot. She didn't say anything, but he knew she wasn't pleased with his natural ability to lie.

Nick finished tying his shoes and after an apprehensive breath told them he'd be off. Strom stopped him and asked Nick if he felt well enough to go out for the evening. Lauren tried to object to Strom's query, but he defended his question and reminded her that two of Nick's a.s.sociates just died. ”He might need to take it easy,” Strom said.

”And what about his girlfriend?” Lauren asked. ”He can't simply ditch her, that is, unless he wants her to flat out dump him by tomorrow morning.”

”The question remains, do you feel up to riding around on that bike of yours and spending the entire evening going from here to there with your girlfriend and back?”

Nick told them both that he was fine. ”Either way, I can't really disappoint her anymore as is.”

He told them he would be back around one or so and promised to enter quietly. He took his helmet from off the stairs that led into their make-s.h.i.+ft home, climbed the steps, quietly unlocked, opened, and closed the door before Lauren asked Strom if Nick was truly alright. Strom told her he'd be fine and resumed reading Franny and Zooey.

6:20 PM.

Seattle, Was.h.i.+ngton Jonathan walked at a brisk pace toward his office while he read through a doc.u.ment that cited the Kitayama Corporation's prior work history in joint ventures with external companies. An offer for a cooperative project surfaced and Jonathan felt he needed to judge whether business with the generally distant company would be a sound investment or not.

He opened the door to his office and nearly shouted when he found Drake within and sitting in his chair. The man took a moment to compose himself and asked why Drake stopped by. ”No one informed me of your visit, otherwise”

”I just sort of dropped by,” Drake told him. He looked at the papers in his hands and asked what it was.

Jonathan adjusted his gla.s.ses and told him it was just a compilation of doc.u.ments that mentioned general effectiveness of the Kitayama Corporation. ”They've made some offers to join us in a few joined projects in our gaming department, as well as extending an offer to encode our software for nearly a decade as a sign of good faith.”

Drake frowned and asked why they had such a sudden change of heart. ”They're normally cold toward us if I remember.”

Vane nodded and said it was true. ”I'm trying to see what angle they might have, but I can't see anything except for a future project that will inevitably provide both of our companies with extremely fruitful results.”

”Have you talked with Sho about this?”

”I have. He's quite eager to begin working with them.”

Drake smiled and said he thought he would be.

Jonathan cleared his throat and asked what Drake stopped by for. ”I can't imagine you want to be here on a Sat.u.r.day evening when you could just as well spend your time with one of your friends or your girlfriend.”

Drake laced his fingers together and said he wanted to talk about Regenesis. ”I know you're trying to avoid mentioning it and giving me all the details, but I feel like I deserve to know, considering my father may have died because of it.”

Jonathan let out a breath and admitted that he never wanted to bring it up. ”It isn't a simple matter Drake.”

”I a.s.sumed as much,” Drake said, ”Considering the fact that I've already tried to find out everything I could, but every trace of it seems to have vanished from the company's past.”

”That would be your father's doing.”

”Why would he do something like that?”

Jonathan asked if he saw the video of his father's death, which Drake said he had. ”Do you remember that your father said it was a genocide waiting to happen?”

”Yes.”

”Well that was what it turned out to be.” He rubbed his eyes and added that they never wanted it to end up that way. ”We tried to create Regenesis as a panacea, a cure-all drug.”

”To cure all cancers, or all diseases?”

He shook his head and said it was supposed to cure everything. ”It would have cured every disease, virus, addiction, wound, and pandemic. Regenesis would have even cured deformities, mental diseases, and even toxins and venoms. And it wouldn't have simply applied to humans; it would have cured plants and animals as well.”

”You could have cured everything,” Drake whispered while he stared at the floor.

Jonathan nodded and continued, ”It would have been the end of disease, of illness, of famine, starvation, and through time it would prolong life and promote peace throughout the earth.”

”It was basically the key to utopia...” Drake paused through his concentration to ask what the side effects were.

”The drug's nature was...complex, to put it simply.”

”Please, explain it to me.”

”The drug would kill the user and revive them three days later, cured of whatever ailed them previously.”

Drake said he followed him thus far, but stopped and asked, ”Did my mother take it? And if so, why didn't she recover?”

Jonathan hesitated to say anymore, but reluctantly revealed that the drug only had a twenty-percent success rate. ”Myra, your mother that is, and your Aunt Annetta had very aggressive cancers and unfortunately there wasn't time to increase the probability of the test. At the time one of the major and only known side effects of the drug was death, as it would kill the subject regardless of success or failure. However your mother and aunt were running out of time and options and agreed to be a part of the first and only wave of human test subjects.”

”But it failed and they never came back to life.”

Jonathan nodded. ”There was only ever a twenty percent chance they would survive and sadly they did not, which is why your father deemed it a hazard and discontinued the project altogether.” Jonathan adjusted his gla.s.ses and added that there was one final effect of the drug. ”If the user managed to survive the initial three days of death and revive, they would completely lose their memory.”

Drake looked and him and asked why that was the case.

Jonathan said he wasn't sure. ”That was one of the reasons we called it Regenesis.”

Drake furrowed his brow and focused on the thoughts that raced through his mind. He asked, ”Since you know of that other side effect, does that mean there was a successful human trial?”

”Only one. Her name was Olivia Moore.”

”David Moore's wife I a.s.sume?”

”Yes. However, because of her memory loss she failed to remember who David was and the two separated months later. She was a part of the same test group as your mother and aunt, and even after one successful human patient, your father decided to terminate the project.”

”When did my father begin working on Regenesis?”

”He thought of the concept for Regenesis a few years before you were born. However it wasn't until two-thousand and sixteen that he truly began formulating the remedy,” Jonathan told him. ”He had quite a group that helped him with the project, all sworn to secrecy given the nature of the drug. But he abandoned it after your mother died in two-thousand and twenty-four.”

”But he started the research up again, didn't he?”

Jonathan nodded. ”A year ago actually, though this time he only employed a few people.”

”David Moore, Mark Ross, and Victor Jacobs?” Drake asked.

”Yes, except for David,” Jonathan corrected him. ”David worked as part of the first wave of engineers for the project. After his wife left him he and your father had a falling out and he left the company.”

”Alright, but what about the other two?”