Drug of Choice

He saw it all very clearly now, despite the white fog and the white sound and the shocks. He saw that the elephant king had overcome the giants in the land of Peruvian Green, and the queen of the homeostasis had integrated all the mega-functions on the top of her crystal blackboard. Meanwhile the gun was pointed at the cap of the archduke who flew over the castle tops wearing his pink beret while he selected a suitable tree upon which to perch and lay his nest of eggs. That was to be expected since there was Dante’s voyage across the seven seas in glorious meritocracy and seaside playpens of laughing infants who played in the seaside digging sandcastles and innovating in the ocean before they were finally allowed to sleep, and then they were happy and gurgling, and soft voices of their dear departed mother would whisper into their ear, all sorts of marvelous reassurances about the future of the Holy Grail and IBM lost ten points in heavy low rubberneck.

Forester, a rubber of whist, eh? And then we fixed on the fort, all guns blazing for her majesty.

Eh?

20. EIGHTEENTH NERVOUS BREAKDOWN

“You’ll be pleased to know,” George Washington said, smiling kindly, “that everything was a complete success. An unqualified success.”

Clark felt a surging thrill, a moment of great pleasure. “That’s wonderful.”

“We’re still concerned about how long the effects will last—”

Oh dear, Clark thought, suddenly worried.

“—but we can hope, at least, that they are permanent.”

Permanent? How delightful that was, how thrilling. They were truly on the verge of a breakthrough in science. He felt an almost palpable sense of discovery. It was very exciting, working here in Advance. It was the most exciting thing a young man could do.

“I’m very eager to begin work,” Clark said, rubbing his hands together.

Washington gave him a funny look.

“Is something wrong, George?”

“No,” George said. “It’s just…well, sometimes I can’t believe it myself, is all. You’re a new man, Roger.”

“I know it. I feel like a new man.”

“Yes, I’m sure you must,” Washington said. “Well then: down to business, eh? I’ll show you around your lab, and then you can get right to work. Oh, by the way, Harvey wants to see you.”

“Harvey wants to see me?” It was an honor, the president of such a fine company wanting to see him,

“Yes,” George said. “Come along.”

Roger met with Harvey and George in the big office. They were both very happy, and Roger felt happy as well. He was extremely eager to begin his work; he could hardly contain his excitement. It was such a wonderful company, so dynamic and interesting.

After that, George took him to the lab, which was ideally equipped, everything a man could ask for. And a smashingly beautiful technician who seemed very interested in him. They showed him where everything was stored, including the two vials of powder, one white, the other pink.

“Now then,” George said, his voice ringing with enthusiasm, “these are the drugs you’ll be working with. The drug of choice here—” he raised the white vial “—and the reversal drug here.” He held out the pink vial. “You’ve had some experience with these before, so you know how vital and important this work is.”

There was no question of it in Roger’s mind. It was not only important, it was fascinating. It presented a huge intellectual challenge, a great stimulus.

“What we need to know,” George said, “is maximum dosages for these drugs. We’ve been using it cautiously, because we don’t know upper limits. But we suspect that we are not getting the maximum benefits from the drug administration. That’s where you come in. We want you to set those limits of dosage. You’ll work with animals at first, and later, when you’ve done the groundwork, with people.”

It was thrilling, Roger thought. In his mind, he could see the endless experiments he would perform, and his steady progress toward an eventual solution to this fascinating project.

“Just one word of caution,” George said. “These drugs are both very potent, and very valuable. Manufacture is still expensive, and there is only one person who does it.”

“Only one?”

“Yes. Harvey. He’s the only one that knows the formula, and he won’t tell anyone else.”

That seemed strange to Roger at first, but as he thought about it, he could understand the reasons. Harvey was being careful; he ought to be careful. Those drugs could be dangerous in the wrong hands. They could be…well, exploited.

“You see, Roger, this firm is making all its money at the present time from this drug, and its use on the island. Funds from that are financing all the research in this large building, and all our projects, like Sharon Wilder and the Glow Girl.”

Roger nodded. Two excellent projects. Nice young girls given a chance in a lifetime to make good. Very worthy and charitable projects.

“So Harvey is playing it close. And he limits the amount of drug he is making available. So don’t drop it or lose it or anything.”