Excerpt: Mid-Life Crisis Syndrome

1. Introduction to Application

"Is this really necessary?" Dr. Knight asked. "The effects have been thoroughly documented, with many studies supporting the theoretical cause of the virus. It's more inconceivable to think that someone has NOT heard of it than has."

Dr. Falchion raised his hand to interrupt. "This is a special hearing for the expedition of a thoroughly dubious procedure that your consortium is proposing. Considering the delicate state of the subject in question, we are obligated to ensure the greatest care is taken to minimize damage done to it. A complete summary of the significance of your proposed project as well as full documentation of your research plan should not be too much to ask and, if proven accurate, should corroborate the findings of other studies."

Dr. Knight sighed but continued, after a brief pause. "Fine. My good fellows, members of the Board—in the early thirties, a controversial study conducted by the NCI that initially experimented with a new strain of virus as a cure for cancer instead created a substrain now known, perhaps mistakenly, as Virus securus. Though seemingly benign with no evident side effects otherwise, the Virus securus strain has been documented worldwide in direct connection with the exact downturn of one's lifetime: what we will further refer to as 'post-median lifespan' in this and subsequent studies.

"The infection of Virus securus in an individual is most evident at the instant post-median lifespan begins and has been observed as the formation of a dark, permanent circle in the middle of an infected individual's forehead. The timing has been noted particularly and most convincingly in premature newborns and other very young children with terminal illnesses. In each documented instance, the time of post-median identification marking has been retroactively identified as such following the time of death, and in some studies, the time of death following post-median lifespan identification marking has been predicted to the day, if not the hour. The only known exceptions to this theory has been the infection of a previously-uninfected individual whose post-median lifespan had begun prior to infection, although the initial appearance of post-median 'spotting' is identical to that of the appearance on an individual infected in pre-median lifespan. In these cases, marking only serves to identify that the individual has already lived for more than half of his or her life.

"The infection of Virus securus in pre-median life is most commonly detectable by testing a blood, skin, or saliva sample. For the most part, this is unnecessary, as Virus securus is transmittable by the merest of skin contact. Due to this, quarantine efforts have been difficult to impossible: only Australia remains a temporary haven from the societal impact of precognitive 'deathday' forecasts. As a side note emphasizing the significance of finding a cure for Virus securus, legions of what are being called 'psycho-terrorists' have been attempting to infect the remaining populace and thwart what little headway science has over the virus.

"Currently, no known cure or vaccine has been discovered, and it is theorized from observations in prior T301 studies that creating a vaccine for Virus securus may be as probable as creating a vaccine for getting wet. Nevertheless, one—and only one—sample has been acquired that may be immune, showing no signs of post-median lifespan marking despite the sample's age: T301-SR7250411.

"What we have observed in preliminary studies of T301-SR725 is an anomalous gene sequence that could prove key to discovering the true nature of Virus securus, as well as a means of countering its effects. We are proposing to—"

Dr. Falchion raised his hand to interrupt again. "What is the reason for seeking to cure the virus?"

Dr. Knight faltered a moment. "Begging your pardon, sir, but are you serious?"

Dr. Falchion responded, "Science cannot afford to make assumptions. To cover all of the bases—for the record—please explain the specific aim of your consortium's effort to eradicate the virus. You stated that there are no evident side effects other than a mark on one's forehead. Why is this a detriment to society worth spending millions in government funds to counteract?"

Dr. Knight seemed flustered but continued. "Besides yet undiscovered possible side effects, advanced knowledge of one's time of death is not a boon to society. The parents of the aforementioned children who have died in infancy are caused undue stress at learning their children have only weeks, sometimes days to live. This in turn creates stresses that affect the overall quality of life of society as a whole, perhaps creating the 'self-fulfilling prophecy' effect that inevitably shortens the average individual's lifespan."

Dr. Falchion did not seem convinced. "How can this be, when each documented 'post-median lifespan' and 'deathday' correspond precisely? Does such predestination not preclude a set time of death regardless of what an individual might do to try to prevent it?"

Dr. Burton stepped in for Dr. Knight. "There have been other T301 studies that have researched instances of known sabotage. A jealous wife knows her husband will live for ten more years but wants to hurry the process and attempts murder, only to put him in a ten-year coma. Alternately, a frightened parent puts his child under house arrest, only for the girl to die from an unforeseen carbon monoxide poisoning. More attempts may have been made, but of the known, verifiable cases, all efforts to change the date have failed. The only known 'cure' for such a mishandling of this knowledge is not to know it, or to hide it away once known. It isn't fair or beneficial for the greater part of humanity to live in denial and fear in this way."

Dr. Knight resumed the project narrative. "We are proposing to study what makes the sample T301-SR7250411 resistant to the Virus securus strain, or why there is no evidence of spotting. The Biomedical Engineering Core of Vanderbilt has developed a new technology that will study the sample record and—"

Dr. Frehley interrupted without raising his hand. "Record? I was to understand this would be a study requiring human subjects research protocols, not database management systems."

Dr. Knight appeared to lose patience but was quick to reply. "Genetic record, on the molecular level, may hold the key—"

Dr. Frehley was incredulous. "Genetic memory? Impossible."

Dr. Knight, if livid, did her best not to show it. "With all due respect, sir, science is not a set of unyielding rules. We do not know everything that is possible, nor do we know that anything is impossible. What is instinct, but a kind of genetic memory? Why is all life predisposed to behave in more or less the same way even without being told to do it?

"Even if I have not convinced you that our research is tied into post-median lifespan and Virus securus studies, the information that can be gleaned from molecular-level genetic mapping of the T301-SR7250411 sample will prove invaluable in more mundane genetic studies. The mitochondrial record alone would advance analysis of the Human Genome Project by leaps and bounds."

Dr. Scott had a question. "Can this not be done with a sample extraction?"

Dr. Burton replied, "No more than a blind sample extraction could be done from an archaeological dig. The location within the complete sample may prove as important as the map itself."

Dr. Falchion glanced at the other board members but did not speak. As if having read their minds, he gave a hesitant frown of disapproval. "At this time, I am not wholly convinced that the project should be approved. We will convene on the matter and get back to you by the end of the week with our response. Subject T301-SR7250411 is too costly to release to mere genetic mapping. Your consortium is still free to pursue research on the other test samples you have already been granted. If there are any significant findings that will affect this application, please let us know again."

Dr. Knight and Dr. Burton seemed put off, but conceded that they could not change the Board's decision on the matter. That is why we must seek alternate funding, Vic. I am counting on you and Iggy to get in contact with Dr. Metalion to find out what we still need to do to convince the IAB to green light our proposal.

In addition, I believe we may appease their concerns of cost to some degree by recruiting Hunter as part of his predoctoral fellowship training. At the very least, it would be most convenient if you could attend the next such hearing, as difficult as it must be to allocate travel expenses in the budget.

Incidentally, the initial test on our secondary sample gave some interesting results. It will take some time to make sense of it all and tie it into our hypothesis, but I have strong hopes for the project. If you get a chance, can you go over the records and try to organize them all in the archive?

Thanks,
LB

P.S. I know it's unscientific, but would calling it 'mid-life crisis syndrome' have a better effect? All of the volunteers call it that—thank you, mainstream media—and give me funny looks when I call it 'post-median lifespan' and its indicators.

Attachment: 1 T301 JK01212009