The Romance Revival(7)
Annie’s belly laugh fills the sterile hallway. “Oh, without question.”
To the outside world, Annie is a celebrated veterinarian who oversees two very successful clinics. To the few people who know the truth, she’s sold her vet practice and now works in a secret office far beneath the SurgOptix building. She’s been my ride-or-die since we met almost ten years ago, and has been the right hand to my lefty throughout the final development of my life’s work: the BioVIVE.
We turn to walk together, and by the time I’m standing at the head of the conference table, my nerves have fallen away and the lingering guilt over my forgotten anniversary has been conveniently shoved to the back of my mind, replaced entirely by excitement about the life-changing presentation I’m about to give.
“Good morning, everyone,” I say to the people gathered around the conference table. “Or good afternoon and good evening,” I add for the participants from the other sides of the world joining us from the video wall. Readying myself, I look at each person in turn, my gaze lingering for a moment on that of my sharp-eyed curly-haired best friend and colleague now sitting near the end of the long table.
It’s really happening, our eyes silently communicate.
Finally, I give a bright smile. “Who’s ready to talk about miracles?”
3 EMERY
Covertly wiping my palms on the fabric of my dress, I turn to the laptop to begin the presentation. “As you all know, Dr. Vincent Barker’s team is close to launching the BioSCAN into the public sector. This technology has the potential to replace not only X-rays, CTs, and MRIs but potentially biopsies, genetic testing, and even diagnostic blood work. It will undoubtedly revolutionize medicine.”
Vince smiles magnanimously from his seat at the table. His long black hair is pulled back in a severe ponytail that accentuates his widow’s peak. If he were purple, Vince would look just like the Count from Sesame Street. The two men on either side of him give him congratulatory shoulder pats. But Vince has had his day in the sun.
Today is all mine.
“The BioSCAN is truly visionary, but it has long been our goal to go beyond that.” I note the way Vincent’s smile flattens immediately at this. Butthole pucker number one. “My team’s goal was to find a way not only to identify injury, illness, and disease, but to immediately treat it. As you know, over a billion dollars have gone into funding this project over the past decade, with a very low probability of success. Well, I’d love to give you all an update on our progress so far.” I nod to Claire near the wall. “Lights, please.”
The room dims and a screen with a computer animation comes to life behind me, a 360-degree view of the focus of most of my waking hours for the past ten years: the BioVIVE capsule.
The chamber opens and an animated person climbs in and lies down before the top seals closed. The animation then shifts to a view from inside the chamber, where the patient’s body is scanned.
“The BioVIVE incorporates the BioSCAN’s proprietary scanning technology,” I say, and we all watch as the computer simulation shows the scan zeroing in on the affected area of the body. “From there, the diagnosis is created, target tissues are identified, and the ideal treatment plan is generated, from light therapy, to laser tumor ablation, to cell-directed chemotherapy, to precise gene editing.”
Vincent huffs out a laugh. “Sorry,” he says with a smile when everyone at the table turns their attention to him. “It’s just—is this all you have, Dr. Martín? You’ve called together the entire board of directors to show an animation? Ten years and a billion dollars and we still don’t know whether the healing technology works on organic tissues?”
“A perfectly timed request, Dr. Barker,” I say, and with a smirk, I click another key so the animation smoothly transitions to a video. “This is Waffles,” I say. “She is a five-year-old Lab-boxer mix who was brought in to her vet, a collaborator from the BioSCAN trials.” I smile at Annie. “Her owner found a lump on Waffles’s chest and Dr. Rodriguez put Waffles in the BioSCAN, which identified the lump as a type of lymphoma.”
As the video proceeds, I narrate what happened next. “The BioVIVE scan confirmed the finding of lymphoma and indicated that it had spread to various sites on Waffles’s body but had not yet infected her bones. Waffles had a very small chance of survival without dramatic intervention.”
Clicking forward, I say, “You’ll see now that when we initiate the BioVIVE sequence, it pinpoints the site of her tumors and…” My smile widens as the scanner image shows Waffles’s tumors being lasered away. “Instantly ablates the carcinogenic tissue. The patient feels no pain, and the body will clear out the dead cells via urinary excretion.”
A low, impressed hum moves around the room. Not everyone in attendance understands the technical details of what I’m saying, but they do understand what it could mean: enormous leaps in the state of medicine. And loads of money.
Bolstered, I continue. “Of course, given the classification level of the project and the obvious issues with testing this on human patients, we began working with various vet clinics to help rescue terminally ill or injured animals as a proof of concept.”
I gesture to the screen again, describing the dozen lifesaving interventions we’ve been able to carry out with the BioVIVE, including successful treatment of dogs with bone cancer and kidney failure, and a cat with a broken pelvis.