“Yes, Joshua’s blood and urine tests are abnormal as well. Would you like to see Harry’s brain scan?” He asked.
Helen nodded.
Lrence went to a file cabinet and pulled out what was obviously a very old scan with Harry’s name printed on the top. He handed it to her.
She held the papers gently. When she read Harry’s name, her eyes misted over. It was several minutes before she could focus. After a while she admitted, “Results like these could definitely produce headaches. The activity is balanced between both lobes and the ratios of theta, alpha, and beta waves are normal. They are all just higher than I’ve ever seen before.” She looked from Sara to Lrence. “I don’t know how I can help. I’ve never run across anything like this before.”
“We’ve been working on this for some time, and we believe we are close to a cure. I’m hoping that once you see our formula, you’ll be able to help us fine tune it.”
Helen looked at Lrence as if seeing him for the first time. “Who are you and where did this crystal come from?”
“That’s a long story. Shall we go back upstairs and get comfortable? I think you’re ready to hear it now.” Once again, Lrence repeated the history of his planet and their exploitation of earth.
Lrence once more told the story of his origin. When he mentioned arriving on the space station in the early 1900s, Helen interrupted him. “You mentioned that your people have a longer life span. How old are you?”
“Over 200 years.”
“How long is your normal life span?” she asked.
“Some of my people have been known to live as long as 600 years,” he replied before continuing. He explained how he and the other insurgents stole the crystals and hid in the past. Then he came to the circumstances surrounding his first meeting with Harry. He told her of Harry’s decision to commit suicide over his diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis.
Helen held up her hand to interrupt him once more. “Harry had arthritis? How is that possible? When I met him, he was agile, even athletic. There wasn’t any sport or activity that he didn’t excel in.”
Lrence nodded. “One of the side effects of the crystal is increased muscle strength. It increases the neurotransmitter, acetylcholine, strengthening the connections of motor nerves to muscles. In Harry’s case, carrying the crystal erased all the effect of the arthritis along with the pain. We had warned him that unless we could find a cure, he would only have a few years of sanity. He wanted to experience life to the fullest. He didn’t care about the future until he met you. It was only then that he became interested in finding a cure.” Lrence stopped.
Helen sat back and closed her eyes. “This is all so hard to believe.”
“Harry loved you. I tried to convince him to stop carrying the crystal or at the very least to tell you, but he refused. He said that you had too much potential. He refused to saddle you with a cripple. His words, not mine. When the headaches became too much, or he was having trouble controlling the emotions, he stayed away from you. He said he wanted all your memories of him to be happy ones.” Finally, Lrence told her of Harry’s last days and how he died.
Helen broke down and cried. Sara held her until the sobs subsided. Drying her eyes Helen looked up at Lrence. “Thank you for telling me. I always knew in my heart he was gone, but a part of me refused to give up the hope that I might see him again.”
Lrence went on to tell her how Joshua had found the crystal that Harry had hidden, and how he’d accidentally transported to Boston. He explained the danger to Joshua and his family if they were not able to find a cure, and the necessity of maintaining secrecy to prevent Erik from finding the crystal, Joshua or Lrence. At last, he said, “I know that I’ve thrown a lot at you. I wish I could give you more time to consider your answer, but I can’t. I must have your answer now. Will you help us?”
Helen nodded. “I guess next you’ll be telling me that the niche in your lab is a portal?”
As if in answer, Kafra came up the stairs from the lab which had been empty only moments before. Lrence went to her and introduced her to Helen and Sara. Addressing Helen, Lrence said, “I have plenty of room for you to stay here. It would be better if the neighbors don’t see your car coming and going every day.”
Helen agreed. She knew that once she started working, they would be putting in long hours. “That makes sense. Besides, I told my office I would be out of town on a family emergency.”
Sara looked relieved when Lrence said there was no need for her to stay. Although having seen and held the crystal, she’d had a much easier time accepting Lrence’s story, she didn’t feel up to meeting Joshua’s parents.
Helen followed Lrence and Kafra back down to the lab, sending Sara home to pack a suitcase for Helen.
Once Sara was far enough away from Lrence’s house, she called Joshua and let him know she was on her way home.
He said he would meet her there.
Chapter Nineteen
While Lrence and Kafra showed Helen all the test results and the work they had done trying to come up with a formula that would cure Harry, Sam and Maria were transforming themselves. Maria cut her fair hair short and dyed it a chocolate brown. Straightened with a flat iron, it now hung sleekly in a short bob. Even after applying more makeup than she would usually use for an evening out, she looked classy rather than overly made up. Dressed in the cream wool slacks and a soft cream cashmere sweater Kafra brought, she pulled on expensive suede boots. Kafra certainly has excellent taste
,
she thought.
These boots alone cost a fortune.
She
inserted the brown contact lens that Kafra had provided, and then looked at herself in the mirror. She had a hard time seeing herself in the woman that looked back at her. She pulled a few faces just to make sure. She tried a seductive come-hither look by raising both eyebrows and tilting her head to the side and down. It surprised her that the woman in the mirror did actually manage to look sexy, except that it wasn’t really her. Only when she laughed did she recognize her smile and the same wrinkles around the eyes
. Okay, I’m still in there somewhere. I wonder what Sam will think
. She stood up straight and sashayed into the bedroom for Sam’s inspection.
“Wow,” he said after looking at her from every angle. Dressed in some of Lrence’s clothes, Sam looked younger as well. They had darkened the gray in his hair and he’d started growing a beard. The horn-rimmed glasses Kafra brought added to a professorial look. “You look so different,” he said to her. “I’m almost afraid to kiss you. I’m afraid it will feel like cheating.”
She gave him a sultry smile, crooked one finger and motioned him to try it.
He stepped up to her, put both arms around her, and bent her backward in a passionate kiss. Straightening up, he released her and while walking away to sit on the bed, he said, “Nope, just the same.”
Feigning a pout, she reached over and threw a pillow at him.
He took off his glasses, looked at her with smoldering eyes, and said in his best Valentino voice, “I mean I would know those lips anywhere.”
“That’s better,” she said laughing at him. “You don’t look bad yourself.” Sitting beside him on the bed, Maria said, “I guess we should go downstairs and see if we pass inspection. Maybe if we look different enough we can get out of this house for a few hours. I’m getting cabin fever.”
Downstairs Helen had donned a lab coat. The three of them stood looking at all the test results spread out on the metal table. When Helen had examined everything, and was up to speed, she said, “If I understand these results correctly, you have determined that the higher brain waves are not the cause of the continuing deterioration of the brain.”
Kafra answered, “Correct. Our normal brain wave patterns are much higher than yours are, and our physiology is very close. The initial contact with the crystal causes an imbalance between the theta, alpha, and beta waves, which causes the headaches, but after awhile the brain is able to balance the waves at the higher level. We believe it’s what happens to the neurotransmitters in the brain that causes the problem. Initially because the crystal causes an increase in most of the neurotransmitters, the brain functions better. It learns faster and is able to retain more information. The person feels stronger because the connections between the motor nerves and muscles are increased. They’re happier because the crystal increases the dopamine and serotonin levels, and they experience less pain because it decreases the pain transmitter. However, over time while the neurotransmitter for the muscles continues to remain high, the dopamine and serotonin levels drop dramatically.
“It’s like coming off cocaine high. Surging causes the levels to rise again, but contact with the crystal can’t maintain them. Both the highs and the lows cause the damage. Synthesizing dopamine and serotonin was easy. The problem was coming up with a dosage that would maintain normal levels.”
Lrence added, “We didn’t bother to work on lowering the brain waves to a normal level since it wasn’t causing the problem, and because the Watchers didn’t know about Harry. That needs to be our focus right now. When Erik scans Joshua, which he will before long, he has to appear to be completely normal even if it is only temporary. In addition, the formula for Harry had to keep the acetylcholine levels high to combat the effects of the arthritis and the substance P levels low to minimize the transmission of pain, while normalizing the dopamine and serotonin levels. Joshua doesn’t have arthritis. While he had the most exposure, it’s still considerably lower than Harry. So the formula we have, even if it had worked, is only a starting point.”
They were discussing possibilities when Sam and Maria came into the lab. They stopped at the bottom of the steps. When Lrence, Kafra, and Helen turned to look, Maria did a twirl. “What do you think? Do we look different enough?”
Lrence clapped his hands. “Well done. I doubt if even Joshua would recognize you now.”
Kafra smiled. Helen looked bewildered until Lrence remembered to introduce Joshua’s parents to her. “Sam and Maria Carson, I’d like you to meet Dr. Whiting. She’s consented to help us find a cure for Joshua. Sam and Maria are Joshua’s parents. Since they’ve both transported using the crystal, they will be our first test subjects,” he explained.
“Have you developed something already?” asked Sam.
“No. We’ve just been bringing Helen up to speed.”
“Does that mean we can leave the house for awhile?” Maria asked.
“Where do you want to go?” asked Lrence.
Marie smiled. “Shopping. Kafra, I can’t thank you enough for these clothes. They’re absolutely beautiful, but as you know, even if we’re only going to be here for a short time, I’m going to need more than one outfit.”
“As long as you avoid anyone you know in Boston and more importantly stay away from Joshua and Joseph, I guess it would be all right.” He withdrew an envelope from his pocket and handed it to Sam. “Since you won’t be able to access any of your accounts, you’ll need this.”
Inside the envelope were several hundred-dollar bills.
Sam tried to hand it back to him. “You’ve already done enough rescuing us and giving us a place to hide. We can’t take your money.”
Lrence looked away. “I consider it a down payment on a long standing debt to your family.”
Sam shook his head. “Harry’s death was not your fault. You don’t owe us anything.”
“I disagree. But if it will make you feel better, consider it a loan.”
“Under the circumstances, I guess I have no choice. Thank you.” Sam put the envelope in his pocket.
After Kafra took their pictures to incorporate into a new set of IDs, Lrence handed them the keys to the Lexus, the cell phone.
Getting in the car Maria commented, “I feel like a teenager let out on spring break.” Sam laughed as he backed the car out of the garage. They sobered instantly the minute they left the estate being careful to watch for any kind of a tail.
Back downstairs in the lab, Helen said, “There’s one thing I don’t understand. If that’s a portal, can't you use it to go back in time? Why are we working on a cure for Joshua? Now that you know where Harry hid the crystal, can’t you just go back in time and retrieve it before Joshua finds it? That way he won’t be exposed, the Watchers won’t send Erik and Joshua’s parents won’t have to go into hiding.”
“Yes, we could,” answered Lrence. “However, we’ve found whenever you alter the past, there are unintended consequences.”
“Like what? The consequences here seem to be all good,” she insisted
He motioned for her to sit down. “Let me give you an example, if Joshua doesn’t find the crystal, then he doesn’t get transported to Boston. Then one possible outcome is that he and Sara never meet.”
Helen shrugged. “That doesn’t seem too horrible. It’s better than if they meet, fall in love and then Joshua gets killed by Erik,” she pointed out.
“How do we know that if Joshua doesn’t find the crystal and transport to Boston, that he wouldn’t be bitten by a snake and die in Guatemala?” asked Lrence.
“That’s conjecture. You could come up with all kinds of scenarios that would be worse. It could just as easily be that Joshua lives a long full life and does something wonderful, and Sara marries her soul mate who isn’t Joshua,” persisted Helen.
Lrence nodded. “You’re right. Let’s take a situation where we know the outcomes. If you could go back in the past and cure Harry, would you?”