Lethal Discoveries Page 4

  “I think we should do a systematic study. Why don’t we try the polymer on pure milk?”, I proposed.

  We always had some basic types of foods in our fridge for our lab tests, and milk was one of them. “If we add the polymer now perhaps we’ll see something before the end of the day”, Brad said.

  We were about to take the milk bottle from the fridge when we heard Mike on our back.

  “So, what did Sandeep tell you?”.

  “We’ll meet him this afternoon. Come see what happened to some other samples”, I said, getting the milk bottle from the fridge.

  Mike scratched his chin, thoughtfully. He took the jar of yoghurt and rolled it in his hands, as if seeing it from different angles would give him some new inspiration.

  “Just by looking at this with the naked eye I would like to say that it has fermented”, he said. “but there weren’t any odd looking bacteria when you looked at this under the microscope, right?”.

  Brad and I looked at each other.

  “I am not sure about what odd bacteria are like…”, Brad replied doubtfully.

  “Perhaps we can go get Alice and see what she thinks about this”, I suggested

  I found her preparing bacterial cultures next door. She was wearing an eccentric red and orange sweater under the lab coat and when she saw me she greeted me with a broad smile, bouncing on her chair as she said hello. It was good to be around Alice’s halo of cheerfulness. We didn’t get the chance to work together very often and I was happy I had finally found a reason to get her involved in what I was doing. When she saw the swollen ice-cream and yoghurt she raised her brows.

  “Impressive”, she said, and then began rolling the jars in her hands the same way Mike had. “Can I have a look at these under the microscope?”.

  She spread the yoghurt on a glass slide and looked into the eyepieces.

  “Wow”, she said, “what happened here?”.

  We took turns looking at the sample.

  “The texture changed a whole lot, same as last time”, Brad said.

  “It’s not only that”, Alice told us. “There’s bacteria in there. Loads of them. Do you see those spherical shapes all over your sample, arranged around the void spaces?”, she said, gesturing to take another look.

  “I see”, I told her, my head bent on the eyepieces, “But they don’t move at all. Aren’t bacteria supposed to move around?”.

  “That’s right”, Alice said, “and this is what amazes me. These bacteria have multiplied like crazy, and based on their appearance they are very much alive, but they are not moving around as I would expect them to”.

  “This business is more and more puzzling, I wonder what Sandeep found…but now these bacteria seem to be the key here”, Mike commented, rubbing on his chin as he had been doing since I showed him the samples.

  “Let me keep the sample and have a better look at it”, Alice offered.

  “We thought of adding the polymer to a milk sample…do you think you can have a look at it?”, I asked

  “I have an idea”, she exclaimed, brightening up. “Why don’t you add the polymer and let me check on your sample in time. I am curious to know what these funky bacteria do before there’s so many of them around”.

  I prepared the milk sample and handed it to Alice.

  “I’ll be here till late, come back whenever you want this afternoon and I’ll let you know what I find”, she told me.

  I thanked her, and said Brad and I would go find her after seeing Sandeep at the Cross cancer institute.

  Chapter 17

  I invited Brad to a Thai restaurant on the way to the Cross cancer institute to honour the bet I had lost with the tomato sauce. The ambience was homely and the waitress had soft features and a sweet smile. I am not the type who is very fond of restaurants, but I felt comfortable and became genuinely excited about the menu. Brad didn’t share my feeling, I could tell his mind was still focused on the work. “So, what do you think about all those bacteria in the sample?”, he asked as I was pulling up a nest of noodles on my fork. I shrugged and put the forkful in my mouth. “This is good”, I said, “I don’t know about the bacteria. Is seems like the polymer helps them reproduce faster”. “Then why do they stop wiggling around?”, he continued, spooning up his soup. “I don’t know, maybe they ate all the yoghurt till their belly was full and when there was no more food around they decided to slow down”, I replied, laughing. I had said this as a joke, but Brad stopped eating and looked at me attentively. “You are right, they were all around the void spaces, weren’t they?”, he said pensively. He lowered his eyes for a moment, then looked at me again and said “But it’s not like there was no yoghurt left around the voids…”. I shrugged and said I was just making up a story. We finished our lunch without continuing the conversation, but I could tell that Brad was still thinking about it when we left the restaurant.

  When we reached the Cross cancer institute I was surprised to find Sandeep waiting for us at the entrance. The eagerness to tell us what he found transpired through his composed manners. “I was waiting for you”, he told us. We followed him to the NMR lab, where he had left the computer on and the files containing the spectra from our samples open on the screen. “I was confused about these spectra, I found new compounds in the sample additioned with polymer, but I couldn’t pin them down”, he began. “So I took the freedom to show the data to a medical researcher here at the institute”, he continued after a pause, “Wilhelm is a respected expert in the field”. I had never been too secretive about my research, but I wondered what McMurrich would have thought about involving too many people outside FoodTech labs in our work. I must have frowned without realizing it, because Sandeep reassured me, “I know the data are strictly confidential, don’t worry. Wilhelm will never disseminate them, you can trust him”. I blushed at having been caught with untold thoughts on my mind. “So what does Wilhelm think about the spectra?”, Brad asked. “They are similar to products of the metabolic activity of bacteria, but not completely identical to them”, Sandeep said. We told him that we had tested the polymer on a yoghurt sample and we had found plenty of bacteria in there. “Ah, maybe it was the same for the pudding, that could explain a lot”, Sandeep said pensively, “But as I said, what we found is not completely identical to the usual bacterial metabolic products. There seem to be some toxins in the sample too, although in very small amounts. Actually they are so close to the detection limit that I am not even sure about what we are seeing”. We told him that Alice was monitoring a milk sample and analyzing bacterial colonies from the yoghurt, and that maybe she could come up with some answers. “You are more than welcome to bring me other samples to look at”, Sandeep said, “I think it would be instructive to compare the compounds formed in different foods”. We thanked him and promised to keep in touch, then headed back to FoodTech labs where we found McMurrich looking for us in the labs.

  Chapter 18

  “So, how is the polymer behaving?”, Mc Murrich asked as soon as she spotted us.

  “Quite well, I would say”, I replied

  “We’ve tested it on yoghurt and the volume increase was huge”, Brad continued.

  Mc Murrich smiled coldly. “Great”, she said.

  “We are trying to understand the mechanisms underlying the volume changes…”, I began, but McMurrich cut me short before I could complete my sentence.

  “Having that information would be great, but it is not essential”, she stated curtly, “what we care to understand is if the polymer changes the taste of the food and its shelf life, once this is clear we are ready to launch the product on the market. There’s more than one company willing to pay big money for it and I am keen on cashing that money”.

  Brad and I looked at each other. Mc Murrich had an outstanding talent for spoiling our fun whenever we were starting to have any.

  “Should we test the safety of the polymer at all?”, I asked, feeling Brad’s reproachful side glance falling on my wo
rds.

  Mc Murrich frowned, “You simply combined two polymers, both of which are safe. Of course the new polymer is going to be safe, why are you asking?”.

  “I was just wondering”, I shrugged.

  “Well, this is really not our responsibility. We simply sell a polymer that has the potential to boost the volume of the foods, the food companies should take full responsibility for any side effects it might have. We have disclaimers that exempt us from assessing this aspect”, she concluded.

  “Sure”, Brad said wanting to end the conversation, “so Iris and I will be working with Alice to verify the shelf life of the products after adding the polymer”.

  Mc Murrich nodded, “Very well, keep me updated” she said before shifting her attention from us to her monitor.

  I moved to the door and said “Sounds good”, thinking on the back of my head that Brad and I would continue our investigation on the side. If we understood what happened we could get even better results. Why was Mc Murrich so greedy that she couldn’t see that? She was the boss though, and her strategies had kept us in the business so far – one had to give her that.

  When Mc Murrich walked away Brad said, “So, let’s go see Alice, I am curious to know what she found for the milk”.

  “And well, we’ll have to come up with a plan with her to get some answers for McMurrich”, I continued.

  Brad shrugged. I knew this wasn’t his priority, but I also knew we couldn’t get the treat without using some tricks. If we wanted to have the fun of the discovery we should also invest some time to give Mc Murrich what she wanted.

  Chapter 19

  We found Alice in the cell culture room, looking intently through a microscope. She didn’t notice us walking in and she started when she heard me asking if there were any news.

  “Look for yourself!”, she exclaimed excitedly, eyes strained but beaming, and a broad smile spread across her face.

  Tiny dots wiggled in my field of view, crowding around the void spaces of what appeared like a foam.

  ”Wow!”, I said, making room for Brad so that he could see what was happening

  “Is this the yoghurt or the milk?”, I asked

  “The milk”, said Alice, “I’ve been monitoring the sample in time, what happens is very strange”.

  Brad and I looked at her questioningly. The bacteria had multiplied quickly and had fast movements in the first couple of hours, after which they had begun moving very slowly, Iris explained.

  “I bet that if we wait until tomorrow these guys won’t be moving around at all”, she said

  “I wonder why…”, Brad said pensively, almost talking to himself.

  “I would love to know myself”, Alice replied, looking again into the microscope. We decided to leave the bacteria to their own business till the next day and see how they would behave then.

  “By the way, Mc Murrich wants to know if the polymer can change the shelf life of the products. Do you think the growth of these bacteria will affect it in any way?”, I asked

  “I am still not sure”, said Alice, “These bacteria are probably like the ones usually present in the yoghurt, they shouldn’t cause the product to deteriorate”.

  “So, what type of bacteria are in there?”, Brad asked

  “This is the weirdest part”, Alice said, “I cannot recognize them. They are different from all the bacteria I know about. I also checked their characteristics against those of all the bacteria in the database. The best I can get is a match on about 90% of the features, but a perfect match is impossible”.

  We stood there thinking this over. After a pause Alice said, “As a matter of fact I don’t think we should circulate the polymer out of the labs before we understand all this. We don’t really know what these bacteria can do to people, all we say with certainty is that the polymer triggers their growth”

  “Oh oh”, Brad said, “Mc Murrich won’t be happy to hear this”

  “We have to tell her though”, Alice insisted, and I nodded.

  “But you heard what she told us today…”, he said, looking at me, “She wants to sell the polymer without worrying about possible risks”.

  I was uneasy, for the first time since I took the job I fully realized that what we did in the labs could have an impact on real life and that I was trapped in a ruthless game where I was no longer controlling my moves.

  “I’ll tell Mc Murrich anyways”, I said.

  But when we walked to Mc Murrich’s office she was gone. Strange, I thought, Mc Murrich never left that early.

  Brad shrugged, “Let’s leave this for tomorrow”, he said, “why don’t we just go home now”

  I couldn’t wait to go myself. I wanted to leave the alienating atmosphere of the labs behind, go home, perhaps drive to the lake for a swim. But at the same time I was afraid to face the loneliness, to be confronted with the dead point where I had landed. I had been after this polymer for months, and now that I had found it I wished I never had. I had set in motion a mechanism I could no longer stop, and I knew that at this point I could not avoid that the polymer was released. Or maybe I could…I would have to wait till the next day to know.

  “So, are we going?”, I heard Brad say.

  I started, wondering for how long I had stood there, my thoughts wandering.

  “Sure thing”, I replied, and we walked out, our feet leaving their imprint on the parking lot asphalt, melt by the burning Californian sun.

  Chapter 20

  When I got home there was a note from Jack under my door:

  What about a night swim in the lake? J.

  I found myself smiling, while I held the note in my hands. The handwriting was stylized, except for the J., which was curled and elaborate. I liked the contrast between the two handwritings. It was the first time Jack asked me out for a night swim, and I felt that with this request he was trying to resolve a knot within himself, perhaps unconsciously. Just one week ago we had gone out to restore the boat, and now he wanted to swim. I wondered if he was attempting to exorcize the death of his girlfriend by approaching the water again with me. What links me to this girl? Why is he assimilating the two of us? Or is he? I want to know more about Lisa. I’ve always believed that there are connections between people that logic alone cannot explain. Perhaps Jack and I have met for a reason, perhaps I am somehow bound to Lisa and Jack is bringing us together. Nonsense, we are just going for a swim.

  I was standing on the door lost in these thoughts when Mrs. Wheeler waved me hello from her garden. I waved back. “Do you have a moment?”, she shouted. “Sure”, I said, and walked towards her house. When Mrs. Wheeler opened the gate of the low shite fence Wooster came running towards me, and leaped up, licking my hands. I pat him laughing at his contagious joy, then looked up at Mrs. Wheeler smiling.

  “I wanted to invite you over to our place one of these days”, she began, “We have news to share”

  “Which news?”, I asked.

  “Oh well, we’ll tell you everything once you come over, if you have time of course”, she replied, with a motherly smile painted on her face.

  “I could drop by tomorrow…”, I said tentatively.

  “That sounds just perfect”, she said overriding the doubts in my tone with the emphatic enthusiasm in her tone, her smile broadening, and walked away in her flowery dress, waving at me again when she was halfway to her door.

  Chapter 21

  I changed into a black bathing suit and a pair of old trousers, and drove out to Jack’s place, with Led Zeppelin and Guns’n’Roses playing on the background. The heat and the old familiar notes had a soothing effect on me. After all the polymer hadn’t been released yet, I was going to warm McMurrich the next day and tonight I would be swimming with Jack, leaving my work behind. Perhaps we could have something to eat together afterwards. I felt myself longing for this, life was good. I smiled, the breeze flapping softly on my face through the open window.

  I parked on the back of the building and walked up t
he fire stairs. When I knocked on Jack’s door I heard some stirring inside, and a long moment later Jack opened the door, his hair messy and wet, and a towel wrapped around his waist.

  “I was steaming in the bakery”, he said, answering my puzzled expression, “I couldn’t drive with you sweaty as I was, even if we are heading for a swim”.

  I laughed at this and then, unexpectedly, I pushed him inside and looked at him from a distance, my hands resting on his shoulders.

  “It’s good to see you, Jack”, I said.

  He was silent for a moment, then said, “Yeah, it’s good to see you too, Iris”.

  The room was filled with the soapy smell of his recently washed body and his green-flecked gaze felt fresh on my hot skin.

  “Give me a moment”, Jack said, and reappeared a few moments later with a pair of swimming boxers and a tattered shirt on.

  “Let’s go with my car”, he said, grabbing the keys.

  “Why?”, I asked.

  He shrugged. “No real reason, I just feel like driving”, he replied.

  Then he winked at me, and said “come on”, guiding me towards the door.

  Chapter 22

  The fragrant aroma of the pinewoods flew through the open windows and I sat back, eyes closed, taking it all in. When I opened them I saw that Jack was talking glances at me, a smile on his face.

  “This feels great”, I said, turning my head towards him.

  I closed my eyes again.

  “Something was worrying me today”, I said, and told Jack what had happened at work.

  “You said that the polymer triggers the growth of unknown bacteria?”, he asked puzzled. “I would come to have a look if I could, but I think the regulations wouldn’t allow me to”, he continued.

  I nodded. “We’ll keep monitoring the sample in the next days, and I will tell you what we see”, I said in a conclusive tone.

  I didn’t really want to discuss the matter, but I had felt the urge to let Jack know. Now that I had I felt like a weight had been taken off me.

  I hadn’t focused much on the landscape up to that moment, and when I did I realized that we were driving on an unfamiliar stretch of road.