Chapter 6 – The Cure
Queen's University
Jack Garrick is busy working in his laboratory at the Queen's University as usual. He was so concentrated on his work that he did not notice his friend sneaking up on him and watching behind his shoulder. Jack Garrick is 6 feet tall with a full white beard. His friend is a younger researcher from University of Alberta, Benjie Scott. At 40 years old, he has already accomplished a lot but nothing as groundbreaking as Jack Garrick's work. Although he is approaching middle age, his demeanour is still that of a early twenties youth. He loves playing pranks but usually tones it down a bit for Jack Garrick.
Benjie Scott gently blows wind on the back of Jack's neck, startling him. “God Benjie, are you trying to give me heart attack?”
“That's the idea, then I can steal your research and claim it as mine. Bwa ha ha ha,” gesturing to touch Jack's screen. Which earns him a slap in the hand.
“Get your hands off my research.” Jack scolds Benjie, giving him a stern look before breaking out in laughter. “So what brought you here?”
“I was just in Toronto for a conference. Just thought I would drop by.”
“Thanks for the advance notice.” Jack says sarcastically.
“You are welcome.”
“What conference is this?”
“Nothing to do with cancer research unfortunately. Boring administrative stuff.”
“Ah.”
“So did Health Canada approve your application to start testing yet?”
“No, I am afraid it is getting tied up in bureaucracy.”
“Here we are with the cure for cancer, and they are too busy with their bureaucracy?”
“Potential cure for cancer.” Jack corrects Benjie.
“I have full confident in you Jack. I've looked at your data and it is pretty impressive. What is Health Canada thinking? We are not living in year 2000 where testing on animals was unreliable. Preliminary tests done were on stem cells. Those replicas of human cancer cells have so far shown very encouraging results. They are pretty conclusive as far as I am concerned. I am surprised you don't get more publicity on this.”
“Less publicity is better. But I am sure our friend in the Big Pharma already know about it.”
“I wonder how they would react, knowing you could put an end to their multi-billion dollar industry.”
“Ecstatic?” Jack says, laughing.
“Well university researchers have better track record on finding cure than those billion-dollar industries who rely more on patents to rack up profit than putting more money into new research. My friend in government tells me that there is an influential lobbyist firm that people are referring to as the conglomerate. Apparently this conglomerate wants government to pass laws to force universities to commercialize our invention so that it can be patented and handed over to private companies. In the name of helping society benefit is what they said. I think that is just pure B.S.”
“I am not giving anyone my invention so that they can gouge those who are sick.”
“You have a wonderful mind Jack. Who would have thought of finding a cure by helping the organs affected by cancer regain the metabolism that's been lost. All this time, our medicine and drugs mostly focus on suppressing gene functions in our body and disabling biological bindings. Or use anti-metabolite drugs. Those usually lead to side effects. Sometimes it becomes toxic for other parts since the remnants tend to affect adjacent tissues or organs. Instead of inhibition, you focused on recovering the function of the affected cells. Not as easy as it sounds but you did it. You are going to be a rich man.”
“Would you believe me if I say I don't care about the money.”
“Oh come on. You have to at least earn something for all this hard work.”
Jack looked up and removed his eyeglass. “I swore I would dedicate my life to researching for a cure after my mother died from cancer in the U.S. My father went broke from all her drugs and treatment costs. I promised myself I would find a cure and I will not patent it to make it affordable for everyone. When my father died, I thought my dream of going to university was gone, but thanks to Dr. Scott Godwin for letting me work under him. My success is largely because I was able to step on that giant's shoulders.”
Benjie Scott is stunned. He was always impressed with Jack's intellect, but now he is awed at his selflessness. “This man is a saint,” he thought to himself. “So just like Jonas Salk eh? Inventor of one of the types of the polio vaccine. What was it that he said when asked who owns the patent?”
Jack replies in a low voice, imitating Jonas Salk in his 1952 TV interview. “The people I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?”
Algonquin Park, Canada
Orad Labare is excited to be driving home to his foster parent's cottage home. It was a good year for Orad. He got a decent paying job in the city and was able to save more money for his post-secondary education. He left his foster parents two years ago after turning 18. He wanted to be able to look after himself. He told his foster parents that they had done more than enough already for him. While driving home, his mind wandered into the past recalling memories and stories about his mother.
Orad’s father died when he was 2 years old. His mother raised him alone. She worked for a bank in Wall Street, New York. She struggled to make ends meet since she have become the lone breadwinner. Minimum wage had been frozen for years as government claimed businesses couldn’t take an extra hit in times of economic difficulty or more people would lose their jobs. Orad's mother’s salary was above minimum wage, but it had also been frozen for years and it was not enough to raise Orad. The economy recovered and minimum wage went up a little bit. The government instead concentrated on giving tax breaks to big companies defending the move as a job creation measure. The personal income tax exemption and margin, however, remained the same, while inflation shrunk the household income. To make matters worse for Orad's mother, the promised job creation did not happen. The company she was working for continued to re-organize and cut staff to increase profits and value for their stock market holders. Initially, Orad's mother job scope and load increased to a 2 person job. But that was not enough for the company who wanted to keep growing and to quickly increase their billion dollar profit further to attract more stock holders. Further downsizing causing Orad's mother to end up covering what used to be a three-person job. Customer service suffered but that was the least of the company's concern when they were practically a monopoly now with only three competing companies for the whole country. Pressures from their executives for even higher profits resulted in middle management pressuring the staff not to do overtime. Orad's mother was unable to finish her job in a day, and she ended up working faster, fearful she might lose her job. But one job was not enough to raise Orad. So she took another job at night usually already exhausted from the full day of fast paced work. But she did not have a choice. Fortunately, her sister was willing to look after Orad since she was working at home. Orad's mom was thankful since she would not have been able to afford daycare. But that did not last long as her sister had to move to other place for work when Orad was 7 years old.
Orad remembered his mom being very skinny and still going to work even when she is sick. He was scared when he learned his mom had cancer and the doctor only gave her 3 months to live. They said her cancer was already at the late stage, and they wondered how she was able to keep going without going to see a doctor. She replied that she couldn’t afford time off or the cost of seeing a doctor. She had to bear it when she felt sick thinking it is just excessive tiredness.
Social services offered to help to find Orad a new home. Orad did not want to leave his mom, saying he wanted to always be with her. His mom cried and said she would always be with him even when he would not see her. Orad remember the social workers trying to hold on to him tightly as he fought them off, not wanting to leave. But he managed to escape their grip to hug his mother. The social workers then decided to just leave
them alone. Orad's mother died that night and Orad could not be consoled.
Orad went through several foster parents with all five giving up from his stubbornness. His sixth foster parents brought him to their cottage at Algonquin, across the border to the north in Canada. But Orad wouldn’t smile or acknowledge them. They let him be. One day, Orad decided to go for a swim. He suddenly got a muscle cramp on his leg and yelled for help. He thought he was going to die. He started sinking. He wondered whether it was that bad to die. Maybe he should just let go and he would be able to see his mom. Just as he was losing consciousness he felt like someone grabbed him. But everything had gone dark. He thought it was probably just a hallucination as everything went silent.
Orad was not sure how long he was out. But when he opened his eyes as he started to cough, and he could see his foster father frantically trying to resuscitate him. He suddenly saw his mother beside him crying. He groaned, “Mom?” His mom then hugged him and started touching his face. He could now see clearly that the woman was not her mom but his foster mother. So he started to cry. He missed his mom so much, but this was the first time he had cried since leaving the hospital after his mom died. But why was his foster mother crying? He was not her child. Why would she care? After that day, he grew closer to his foster parents. They treated him like he was their child and he treated them like they were his real parents.
Orad's mind came back to the present as he turns the corner to the road leading to his foster parent's cottage. He pulls onto their driveway, takes his bags, and heads to the door. His foster mother opens the door just as he is about to knock.
“Oh Orad, it's so nice to see you.” She hugs him tightly.
“Orad!” his foster father exclaims. “You have grown. He looks at Orad from head to toe. Orad was always a tall kid in his class. His body is big but not obese. His body reminds his foster father of old paintings of hunters from Orad's Aboriginal roots. Orad's foster mother cooks up a feast for their dinner and there are lots of laughs to be had that night.
Orad finally retires to his room. Everything the way he left it. He takes out his rectangular ruler size computer unit and points it at the wall. Time to login to The Node. The Node has grown to be the prominent portal for the net. Whether it is to search for something or check on your friends. The Node has been marketed as a friendlier alternative to FriendsConnect. The Node CEO once proclaimed that they are the good guys, a swipe at FriendsConnect founder who is very much disliked for his proclamation that people don't need their privacy. 'A privacy-less society breeds honest people.' He had proclaimed, but his proclamation turned out to be hypocritical when he turned out to be very non-transparent on his business conduct and for covering up for corrupt politicians who monitor the activity of their critics. That revelation led to the fall in popularity of FriendsConnect. Now The Node is the IN thing with the cool factor. It now has a lot of die hard followers. Some have grown very fanatical, attacking anyone who posts any criticism against The Node. Orad can't help but be amused at people's tendency to be fanatical and to blindly defend their idol whether it is an artist or website like The Node.
Orad likes the interface of The Node. All his communication with friends and the storage of his files are all kept at his own private node now. He decided to check-in with his girlfriend, turning on the built-in video camera on his unit.
Ottawa, Canada
Mary Hurt is not looking forward to talking to Morris tonight. Morris is an imposing figure not only physically but also through the way he talks and acts. Mary finds his presence alone to be very intimidating. But Mary has done a lot of favours for him. All little things that were harmless. Sure it might have cost someone more money but this is a give and take world. People like her who work hard to get to the top deserves a bit more payback. Helping Morris has made her rich. Mary does not think that's corruption. She is not taking any money in an envelope from him. Just investment advice from a friend who she has helped a lot.
But his latest request makes Mary uneasy. Morris wants Mary to deny Jack Garrick's application to start testing his drugs on actual humans. She does not want to be the person responsible for denying human race a potential cure for cancer.
As she heads to the conference room, she is startled to find her assistant Barb Stanton just leaving the room. “Oh hi. What are you doing here this late at night?” Mary asked.
“Oh I just have a video conference with our client this afternoon and thought I would just finish my work there since the room was not booked for the rest of the day. What are you still doing here?”
“I have a video conference with a prospective client from Asia.”
“I see. Anyway, I am out of here. I'll see you tomorrow.”
“Good night.” Mary sighs as Barb leave. She wants to use this video conference unit. It is the latest they got and have secure communication. Morris recommended it so that they can have encrypted chat. Barb usually sets up the unit for her but she is now familiar enough on how to use the encrypted chat. The tons of other features she can do without.
She connects to Morris’s node. Morris promptly answers. “Good evening. You look stressed.”
“I just have to rush here. I am fine.” Mary replies.
“You probably already know why I called. So let's cut to the chase. Have you rejected Jack Garrick's application yet?”
“How can I deny the world a cure for the number one killer disease?”
“We are not getting rid of the cancer cure. We are just getting it out of the hands of an eccentric professor. The cure will be still be available. But it will be patented and marketed by our pharmaceutical company friend. We can easily obtain the ingredient that he uses. He will probably make that publicly available, so we need you to issue a warning that the drugs have not been shown to work nor tested to be safe. We can then use the same ingredients and add some non-therapeutic ingredient then claim it as our own invention and patent it. Since the patent law that we pushed through allows for some ambiguity, it would take him some work to figure out what we did.”
“But how can you get it out of his hands? Wouldn't he sue you?”
“You don't have to worry about those details. There is nothing that we cannot do. ”
“But how much would the pharmaceutical company charge?”
“You have nothing to worry about. As an honorary member, you will get all the drugs you want for free. So if you have friends or relative that needs it, just let us know. Imagine if we let Dr. Garrick go ahead with his plan. The billion dollar industry of cancer treatment will be gone, large numbers of people will lose their jobs. By keeping the cure in play within the market, the people get to keep their job and the world get its cure.”
“Let me think this over for a day.”
“For crying out loud Mary! I thought you would have done that already before you came here. Why don't we take a break while you think it over.”
Mary nervously tries to think things over quickly and decides there was no need to be stubborn like Dr. Garrick. Morris has promised the cure will be available to the world. And that is all that really matters. So she quickly responds. “No need, I'll sent him the rejection tomorrow morning. I hope your side will take care of things and prevent him from embarrassing our agency.”
“You take care of your side and we'll take care of ours. Thank you Mary. It's been a pleasure doing business with you as usual. Good night.” And Morris hangs up abruptly.
Mary is starting to hate her job. She has enough money for retirement. She wishes she could just walk out now and let Morris find someone else to work for him. But she does not want to find out what Morris would do if she turns her back on him. She sits there staring at the screen contemplating options that she know is out of her reach.
Barb Stanton’s residence
Barb Stanton was all set to go to bed when she remembers the recorder on the video conference unit was not turned off. She thought about going back now but decides to wait until tomorrow. Maybe Mary
will have already turned it off for her.
Mary goes to sleep and it feels like she just closed her eyes when the alarm goes off. “Argh,” was all she could say when she saw it was already 6:00 AM. She grudgingly get up to take a shower and prepares for work.
Morris Stark’s residence
Morris is drinking his morning coffee when his phone rang. It is his assistant.
“Did you have a video conference with someone from Canada last night?” his assistant asks.
“Yes, why?”
“Well I was just about to do a video conference and saw the message that the conversation was recorded by your counterpart. I know you usually conduct your business off the record so just thought I should let you know.”
Morris stands there staring at the wall for a moment and then replied, “Thanks for letting me know. Nothing to worry about.” He hangs up and thinks to himself that Mary better have a good explanation for this. He immediately dials her number.
Health Canada Office
Barb arrives earlier than usual and decides to check the video conference to make sure everything's OK. She sees it is still ON and a message said “out of space.” “Oh shoot!” She then tries to slide the recorded video to try to see that her recording is still there. She thinks of skipping quickly past Mary's part but freezes when she sees the guy on the other side is not Asian. She stops sliding and thinks maybe he works in Asia. As she is about to resume sliding backward to rewind further, she freezes again when she hears what is being said. “You will get all the drugs you want for free. So if you have friends or relatives that need it, just let us know.” She frowns, wondering why someone would be offering the head of Health Canada all the drug she wants for free. She quickly look over her shoulder. She walks to the door and opens to peek. No one is here yet. She quickly rewinds to the start, when Mary had just sat down. Her eyes widen as the video of the conversation continues. She quickly presses some buttons on her cellphone watch to start transmitting the data. The video conference unit asks for a password which she readily supplies. The upload prompt starts and prompts come up asking if she wants to delete the blank part. She clicks “yes” and the upload is done in under a minute.
As she opens the door, she sees Mary walking into her office looking distressed. She quickly swerves to the side after realizing Mary did not see her. She hides in one of the cubicles.
Mary's footsteps gets closer. Barb can hear her walk into the video conference room. “OK, I am here.” She is obviously on the phone with someone. “What button?” She punches in some buttons. “OK it is done.” “What!” She yells so loudly that it echoes throughout the empty office. “Impossible! I just got here and I would not know how to upload.”
Barb knows things are about to get ugly so she tries to sneak out through the other side of the cubicle. She has to get out of here quick. Maybe she'll call in sick.
Mary hears the door shut and goes to look but there is no one there. She panics. “I think someone was just here.” Morris is livid and asks her to check their door entry log to see who was just there. Mary quickly goes to check and finds who it was. “Barb Stanton,” she mumbles. That was all Morris needed to call his team into action.