Drug of Choice

“Yes. We’re a new company, just started two years ago. As you can see, we’ve grown enormously in that period. Advance has a total staff of 207, including fifty secretaries. We have nine divisions, each involved in some broad question of the application of science to man. We are working in electromagnetics, enzymes, ultrasound, peripheral perception. A wide variety of fields.”

“Where do most of your contracts come from?”

“We are a private research and development firm. We make our services available to private industry. But mostly, we work for ourselves.”

“For yourselves?”

“Yes. That is to say, we exploit our own developments. To that extent, we are unique among firms of this type. But I believe that we represent the way of the future — we are the R and D team of the future. Right here, right now. We do everything: we develop, we apply, and we exploit. Do you follow me?”

“I follow you,” Clark said. In fact, he did not understand it at all.

“I’d like,” said Washington, “for you to meet with our president, if you have the time. Better than anyone else, he can tell you about Advance, and what it stands for.”

“That would be wonderful.”

“Good. I’ll try to arrange it.”

He got up from behind his desk and went to the door. “I won’t be a minute,” he said and left, shutting the door behind him.

Clark was alone.

Immediately, he got up and went around behind the desk. He was looking for the paper that Washington had been reading from; Clark’s application. But he did not find it. Indeed, behind the stack of books and pamphlets, the desk was bare.

He opened the drawer to the desk and looked inside. The first thing that he found was a small tuning fork, like the one in Sharon Wilder’s purse.

The second thing was an odd sheet of paper:

WILDER, SHARON (ALICE BLANKFURT)

INDICES:

SYLONO .443

Psycho-sexual .887

LIENO .003

Dermo-phonic .904

CRYO .342

Hyper-sthenic .887

SUMMARY: Initial work with this model reveals satisfactory assimilation of basic parameters with excellent prognosis for future interaction in K-K. There can be no doubt that—

He heard a noise outside, closed the drawer, and resumed his seat.

Dr. Washington returned. “Sorry about the delay,” he said. “Dr. Blood will see you immediately, if that is convenient.”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

He nodded to the door. “The guard will take you there.” Washington extended his hand. “Good luck, Dr. Clark. I hope you’ll be joining us.”

“Thank you,” Clark said.

Dr. Harvey Blood, president of Advance, Inc., had the largest desk Clark had ever seen. It was curved, bean-shaped, and nine feet long. The surface was brightly polished mahogany. Dr. Blood sat behind his desk, and his face was mirrored in the polish. Clark noticed that the surface was unmarred by pen, paper, or intercom.

“Well, well, well!” Dr. Blood stood, a stocky, red-faced cherub with black unruly hair. “So you’re Dr. Clark.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Sit down, Clark. Roger, is it? Let me tell you something about our company, Roger.”

Clark sat.

“I won’t give you a sales pitch, Roger. I’ll just give you the straight dope. We’re a young company, and a growing company. We’ve been in existence for less than five years, and already you can see how we’ve grown. By the end of the year, we will employ more than three hundred people.”

“Very impressive, sir.”

“It certainly is,” Blood said, with a smile. “But we’re not stopping at three hundred. We’re not stopping at three thousand. Far from it: we are going to expand indefinitely.”

“Indefinitely?”

“Yes. Look here: what’s the largest corporation in America today?”

Clark shrugged. “General Motors, I suppose.”

“Right! And what does General Motors do?”

“Makes automobiles.”

”Right again! And what is so great about making automobiles?”

“Well—”

“The answer,” Harvey Blood said, “is that there is nothing very great about automobiles. They are a terrible product. They are destroying our landscape, ruining our cities, poisoning our air. Automobiles are the curse of the modern world.”

“I suppose if you look at it—”

“I do, I do. But now I ask you: what could a corporation do, if it manufactured some product which was not destructive, ruinous, and poisonous? What limits would there be?”

“None.”

“Exactly! None. And if that corporation went even further, to the point where it manufactured positive, healthful, beautiful products and instilled the desire for them, where would it all end?”

Clark said nothing.

“You see? You see how perfect it is?”

Clark could not understand how this was related to enzymes involved in tryptophan synthesis. He said so.