Sherwood Forest
When we wrote the original version of the story we realised by page 470 that the book was just too long; and we had not yet reached the end of the story! A lot of editing had to be done.
In the original story Richard and Donna stopped at Sherwood Forest to explain what was going on to Donna and to contact his father:
Richard pulled his black Mercedes into the visitor's area at Sherwood Forest. They got out of the car and stretched. Richard popped the boot and Donna removed a pair of sneakers from her carry all, leaned against the side of the car and put them on hopping on one foot. While Donna was putting on her shoes, Richard bought a pay and display sticker for the windscreen. He picked up his laptop case, slung it over his shoulder then removed his mobile from his pocket and flipped it open. He took his mobile out of his pocket and flipped it open. "Drat" he said "Almost out of charge. I better leave it charging 'til we get back."
"You mean your battery is dead too?"
"Yours is dead?"
"Has been for a while."
"There's a spare charger in the glove box if you have an adapter - you can leave it on charge if you want to."
"I don't - I'll just leave it in the carry all in the trunk-bonnet-boot- whatever it's called over here."
Richard laughed, locked the boot and together they set off south through the forest. They remained silent for forty yards or so and then began to talk - confident they couldn't be overhead. Donna turned to Richard and asked, "What's this all about?"
They'd reached a small clearing on the path. "OK - let me start from the beginning. About five years ago, Gary was asked to take a look at a blood sample of a six year old boy with HGPS - you do know what that is right"
"Yeah - Progeria - it's known as old age disease, it's a genetic abnormality that causes rapid ageing starting in childhood. It's rare but there's no known cure and those that have it usually die of old age by the time they’re thirteen."
"Yep - that's the one. This little boy was six years old but looked old enough to draw his pension. We knew the cause was a faulty gene but we were interested in how that gene caused cells to switch off and die. We thought it might lead to a possible cancer treatment."
Donna held her hand up to stop Richards explanation, "Look - Richard - I know all this. I have a copy of all Gary's research here - on this key," she said exposing the USB key around her neck. "Gary sent it all to me long ago. What I don't know, is what has been going on for the last two weeks or so."
"That makes it a lot easier. So you know that the cancer treatment was a blind alley but instead we started looking at the ageing process. We'd managed to make, using stem cells, a gene therapy that made mayflies live for over three months."
"Three months - for a mayfly - they only live for a day - that's incredible!" [Bad choice - this bit had to go - mayflies do not have a digestive system and would quickly starve]
"But - it didn't work with mammals and what good is a bug that lives a hundred times its normal lifespan. All it would do - would be to cause the insect population to get completely out of control. So, naturally we couldn't afford to publish any of this to the science journals. Anyway, for the last two years, we've been working with the protein lamin A. We've know for several years that its normal function is to destroy damaged cells and that a mutated form of it is responsible for this awful children's disease. What we wanted to know, was how it and the mutated form actually worked on cells."
"You and a thousand other scientists - you're after the death gene - aren't we all? You want to make the alchemist second dream, the elixir of immortality."
"We're not looking any longer - we think we've found it."
"You've what - you've found it?" Donna turned pale and nearly fainted.
"Sit down - put your head between your knees and breathe normal."
"We're ninety-nine point nine percent certain. We have a protein which when absorbed restores stem cell like behaviour. A damaged cell is replaced rapidly then destroyed and unlike previous experiments cell reproduction does not become chaotic causing carcinoma."
"So what do you need me for?"
"Other than your pretty face and the fact that you're Gary's only living relative? We need you to help us make a delivery system."
"Look Richard - Gary is obsessed with the death gene. He's been trying to find it ever since his father died of lung cancer nearly fifteen years ago."
"It works Donna - trust me."
"OK, if it works - then how?"
"We modified the HRV-A virus."
Donna gave him a confused look. "You mean you modified the common cold virus? Did it work?"
"On everything we tested it on, lab rats, chimps and human tissue cultures; most mammals; but we knew we wouldn't get approval to test it on human subjects for the next fifty years, if ever. Besides, we couldn't take the risk of the story leaking out."
"Have either of you considered the moral implications here - what it would mean to society as we know it?"
Richard paced and ran his hand through his hair. "Arghhh! The ethics, the ethics!" he narked. "The bloody ethics have been the subject of heated debate for years, not only now, but before Gary and I started working on the project. As scientists and researchers, if we spend all our time agonizing over the morals, of just about anything, we would still be in the dark ages. Progress requires sacrifice. If technology is to move forward, which it will one way or the other, then society has got to be willing yield to the times. Who, in their rightful mind wouldn't want a society where disease and death are a thing of the past?" He argued.
Donna sighed. She listened intently and hesitated for a space of time before responding. She could see that Richard was as passionate about this as she was and she knew he was right. If they were to weigh the ethics in every situation, people would still be dying of pneumonia and tuberculosis and physicians would still be practicing blood letting.
"Richard," she began in a soft, even tone. "The sad part of this is that there is no 'real' right answer. Nobody wants to die - it's human nature. But, Mother Nature herself set the stage, millions and millions of years ago. It's not something that happened overnight or the day before yesterday." She contended.
"But what if that wasn't the case, Donna? What if it wasn't a 'natural' thing for man to die and someone, somewhere, all those millions of years ago put something in our DNA, some kind of programming to make us die - what if our original state was immortal? How would it make you feel, years in the future to find out I'm right and all those people who have died, didn't have to?"
Donna folded her arms across her chest and lowered her head. Her mind was reeling with flashbacks of her own friends and family; especially the loss of grandmother, that was still and open wound. It pained her to think about it. "As much as I would love to go along with you on this, I have to play the devil's advocate. There is so much that can go wrong if we let this genie out of the bottle!"
Richard's tone softened. "Once we mapped the human genome - we had already let the genie out of the bottle. If we don't do it, somebody else will. As a matter of fact, there are powerful people in this country alone, not to mention the rest of the world, who would not, for one second, care about or even consider the moral implications."
Donna shook her head and sighed. "I just don't think we have the right to play god."
Richard exhaled. "So does that mean you won't help us with the project?"
Donna looked at him, the professional in her taking centre stage. "I never said that...!"
"Donna, doctors and scientist have been working for centuries, to increase human lifespan - we're they wrong in doing that?"
"No - of course not, Richard you're missing the point."
"But here, we have a possible chance to wipe out all disease and death at a stroke. Do we have the right, not to do it? How would it be if Jenner has chosen not to produce a smallpox vaccine or Fleming to hide his discovery of penicillin?"
Donna and Richard stood there a few more minutes and debated, finally agreeing to disagree; they moved on. After a short while, they reached the end of the path where a gate led into a small housing estate. They found a bench where they could sit in private. Richard took his laptop out, opened it up and started searching for a wireless network he could access. There were five networks showing - two of which were unsecured. The first would not allow him access - obviously protected by mac address. He connected to the second and was able to get out on the net.
"Budding hacker here, I see", Donna said.
"You can pretty well guarantee in any housing estate you'll find an unprotected wireless network. People just don't bother to read the instructions on preventing someone else accessing them." Richard loaded his Internet phone software, plugged in a headset and dialled a number. A few rings later, a voice answered.
"Hello Ricky, what's the news?"
"We have a slight problem Dad. We're being followed and there's a bug in my car. I think they're tracking us by our mobile phones too."
"You haven't got them with you, have you?"
"Of course not. I left them in the car - mine is on charge - Donna's battery is completely flat."
"When was the last time she charged it and how much has she used it since?"
Richard relayed the question to Donna.
"Right before I left Houston and it was switched off on the flight due to FCC policy. I haven't used it since I got to the UK. The one time I tried I found the battery too low," she said.
"Then they've been using it as a listening device to keep tabs on you."
"They can do that? Even if it's switched off?" she asked.
"She said…"
"No need - I heard her and the answer is, in most cases - yes. It can be activated remotely and your location can be tracked by pinging it while it's on."
Richard replied, "He says yes."
"Just what line of work is your father in - CIA?"
"No, not quiet…"
