| General Fiction posted January 3, 2025 | Chapters: |
...18 19 -20- 21 
|
The project to destroy Dipraxa begins
A chapter in the book The Devil Fights Back
The Devil Fights Back - Ch. 20
by Jim Wile
| Background Three intrepid women team up to conquer medical challenges. |
Recap of Chapter 19: On Fran’s return to her job at Newman-Price in Philadelphia as a new CI for the FBI, she meets with Leonard Merra to try to get some useful information out of him. He asks her to help find a small health magazine that they could arrange to have a hit piece about Glyptophan printed in.
Dana finds one called Myalosoma. The plan is to send them a list of bullet points and get the publishers (a group of young, anti-Big-Pharma radicals) to write the article. Newman-Price would then get all kinds of fake social media accounts to link to it and get the word out. Dana tells Fran of the plan. It’s good information, but not enough for her to bring to a judge to get a warrant for a wiretap.
Fran picks Abby up at the airport for her return visit once she passed the background checks. She will now get to work with Brian on the project to stop the spread of Dipraxa.
Chapter 20
Note to readers: This chapter is rather technical in the science it presents. For completeness and authenticity, I felt it was necessary to include it, and I’ve tried to make it as understandable as I can. Feel free to skim through the science parts or avoid them completely if they don’t interest you; it’s not critical to your understanding of the rest of the story.
Some of the items mentioned will be defined in a glossary in the notes section. Glossary items will appear in blue.
This will be the last technical chapter in the novel. I promise!
Fran
“Patty, we’re going to need you Thursday morning,” I told her over the phone. “Will you be able to meet us at Brian’s house at 9:00 AM?”
“Certainly ah can, Sweetie.”
“Did you happen to talk to your boyfriend about the necessity of staying here for a few days while we all work this out?”
“Ah did. He wasn’t too thrilled about it, but he understands. Ah told him ah couldn’t really say what it was about, but ah did tell him ah was consultin’ for the FBI. Ah think it’s so nice for Brian and Julia to put us all up there at their place. That’ll certainly save us a lot of commutin’ time.”
“That was the general idea. Listen, I know this is an inconvenience, especially around this time of year, so I really appreciate your willingness to do this, and you’ll be paid very well for it.”
“Don’t worry about all that, Sweetie. Happy ah can help out. Ah’m lookin’ forward to meetin’ Miss Abby. She sounds like the genuine article from what you’ve told me.”
“She’s very impressive and awfully nice too. Okay then, see you Thursday morning.”
I didn’t plan on hanging around too much while all these eggheads went about the business of finding a solution to the problem, but I did want to introduce Patty to Abby and get a progress report from Brian and Abby on the feasibility of the proposed solution. So far, I only have the vaguest idea of the aim, but not the actual methods.
Patty arrived a few minutes before 9:00, and after I introduced her to Abby, we got right down to business. “Brian, would you spell out the problem for us and let Patty know what her part in this will be?”
“Sure. Patty, Fran has probably told you that a drug called Dipraxa has taken the streets by storm and has become the number one drug of choice for the incredible high that it produces. It isn’t physically addictive; it’s more like marijuana in that sense, but it is extremely psychologically addictive and virtually incapacitates the users from doing anything constructive except for seeking to purchase more of it.”
He then explained how it was the precursor to his current drug that is undergoing human trials and told her as much of the plan to incapacitate it as he has shared with me so far.
“Okay, Brian,” I said. “Now that we know the Balanga plant only grows on Gunagua Island, and you just told us you plan to spray the plants with a chemical you come up with, could you describe in a little more detail how this spraying will work?”
“Yep. Our goal is to create a gene-modifying chemical that can be sprayed from an airplane onto the foliage. From there, it will be absorbed into the plants. This will change not only the current plants’ genetics but also any future plants propagated from them. And for plants growing under trees that miss being sprayed directly, it will be taken up by the roots when the spray is eventually washed into the soil by rain off the leaves of the blocking trees.”
“But how will you know where all the plants are located to spray?” I asked him.
“We won’t have to worry about that. We’ll just have the plane fly back and forth and spray the entire island. It’s only a quarter of a square mile—about the size of a golf course—and it will be much easier and more complete to simply spray the whole island.”
Patty asked, “But won’t that potentially change the genetics of any other plants growing there? And how about the population of the place? Wouldn’t they object to being sprayed with some chemical?”
“Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that the island is uninhabited, like many small islands of that size. I’ve actually been there twice. In addition to being uninhabited, it’s quite remote, such that it would be hard for animals to migrate to it. There may be some, but I didn’t observe any, nor any signs of animal life there on my two visits. I’m sure birds occasionally stop there, and there are likely insects too.
“I know what you’re asking about: the unforeseen consequences to the ecosystem of the island by spraying a chemical on it. I guess we have to weigh that potential cost against the benefit we’re hoping to get from it. If anyone can think of a different idea to achieve our goal, I’d be happy to entertain it.”
I asked Brian, “Why did you make two trips there?”
“The reason for that is something I think works in our favor. At least it buys us some time before the Chinese—and since we’re all officially part of this project now, I guess we can call a spade a spade—before our enemy in this discovers what I learned from my first trip there. And that is: The Balanga plant requires a very specific soil and won’t survive if the exact soil, or very close to it, isn’t used as the substrate for it to grow in.
“I had the soil analyzed, and it’s very high in certain elements only found in volcanic ash and in soils derived from specific coral reefs. That combination of elements from the gradual mixing over time of compounds from these two sources has given the soil its unique properties, which the plant life has adapted to.
“I know all this because, although the plants that I harvested on my first trip there initially survived, precisely because I included the soil around the root system of those plants, I wasn’t able to propagate them without the necessary soil. Eventually, all the plants I grew in the soil I used died. Hence the second trip, in which, not only did I harvest some new plants, but I also excavated a quantity of native soil that I shipped back to the US.
“Detry Pharmaceutical, which is now manufacturing Glyptophan for the human trials and which will be the manufacturer if the FDA approves it, has excavated several tons of the soil for its greenhouses, where it grows the plant. Our hope is that the Chinese haven’t discovered the unique properties of the soil yet and done what we have done to be able to grow their own Balanga plants.”
“Let’s hope not. Okay, Brian, can you give us an update on what you and Abby have discussed so far? I know it’s only been a day, but do you have a direction yet?”
“I’m going to let Abby discuss this part. Abby?”
“Gee, thanks. I think Brian is having me explain it to make sure I fully understand exactly what the goal is so that I can help model it properly. I’ll try to keep the explanation as basic as I can, but believe me, the science behind the task is extremely complicated.
“As Brian explained it to me, it was when he took an accidental double dose of Dipraxa when testing it on himself that he discovered its highly addictive nature. What caused it was that the excess that wasn’t targeting the area of his body in pain was making its way to his brain’s pituitary gland, where it stimulated the gland to produce what he calls a ‘super endorphin.’ Endorphins act like opioids in that they bind to opioid receptors in other parts of the body. When this happens, they not only reduce the transmission of pain signals to the brain but also create feelings of euphoria, and that’s what makes opioids and also Dipraxa so addictive.
“What we will try to do is to change the way Dipraxa is metabolized in the cells of the pituitary gland that are responsible for creating this super endorphin. The process begins, though, with the gene modification chemical that we will spray on the Balanga plants. By changing the genes of the Balanga plant through a biological process known as RNA interference, it should change the enzyme that is used in the making of Dipraxa, with the end result that the super endorphin produced by the pituitary will now be a dud that won’t produce euphoria.”
I interrupted her explanation with a question. “Brian, didn’t you already figure out how to do that with your invention of Glyptophan, which I believe solved that problem of the super endorphin?”
“Excellent question,” said Brian. “The compounds I added to Dipraxa to turn it into Glyptophan couldn’t be put in the spray we will use to modify the Balanga plants. They would break down rapidly when exposed to the elements. That’s part of what Abby, Patty, and I need to figure out: how to put together a chemical compound that does what we want it to and will survive the elements without degrading before it is taken up by the plants.”
Abby continued, “In addition, we also want the chemically modified Dipraxa to induce nausea in the users. We will be introducing an alkaloid, which is known to produce nausea, into the chemical we will spray on the Balanga plants.
“Thus, when the pituitary now produces the super endorphin, not only will it be a dud in producing euphoria, but it will also make the user feel so sick, he won’t ever want to use it again. That endorphin won’t be so super anymore.
“All this will take some complicated mathematical models and complex programming to figure these things out. Is this as clear as mud now?”
Brian said, “I think you made that about as simple as you could, Abby, and still got the key ideas across. Good job. This is the general direction, and we now are ready to get into the specifics. Fran, I think Abby and Patty will quickly see why I need them and what it will take to perform these tasks that sound somewhat simplistic when summarized.”
I said, “If you think that sounded simplistic, then I can already see why you need them working with you. I think I will leave y’all to it now. Thanks for the intro and I really appreciate your willingness to commit to this effort. Let me know if you need anything by way of resources to help you.”
“Thanks, Fran,” said Brian. “I’ll try to give you a progress report at least every other day.”
Pituitary gland - A pea-sized gland located at the base of the brain that regulates many functions. Among these are the production of endorphins.
Endorphin - Hormones produced by the central nervous system, including the pituitary gland, that are responsible for pain relief, stress relief, and feelings of euphoria.
Opioid receptors - Proteins in the cell membranes of nerve cells. When opioids or endorphins bind to them, they reduce pain signals and create feelings of euphoria.
RNA - Ribonucleic acid is similar to DNA, but is single stranded. It performs various biological functions within cells. One of its main functions is to regulate gene expression.
RNA interference - A biological process where RNA molecules inhibit the expression of specific genes, which effectively silences them.
Enzyme - A protein that speeds up chemical reactions.
Alkaloid - A naturally occurring compound found in plants that has a variety of roles. They are often used in medicine and certain ones can be highly toxic.
Fran Pekarsky: One of three narrators of the story. She is an FBI agent from the North Carolina field office in Charlotte.
Dana Padgett: One of three narrators of the story. She is the assistant marketing director for a Big Pharma company.
Brian Kendrick: Fran's younger brother. He is the inventor of Dipraxa and Glyptophan.
Julia Kendrick: Brian's wife. She is a world-class violinist who now plays in a bluegrass band.
Johnny Kendrick: Brian and Julia's baby boy and Marie's grandson.
Dr. Marie Schmidt: Julia's mother. She is the third narrator of the story.
Cedric (aka Cecil): The doorman at the apartment house where Marie lives.
Lou D'Onofrio: Fran's boss at the FBI.
Patty Mattson: A hacker friend of Fran's. The programmer on Brian's project.
Abby Payne (nee St. Claire): A girl from Dana's past, who she used to bully but has befriended during their adulthood. The mathematician on Brian's project.
Mike Pekarsky: Fran's husband. He is a DHS agent.
Willy Stubblefield: The leader of Julia's bluegrass band.
Shannon Stubblefield: Willy's wife and the drummer in the bluegrass band.
Picture courtesy of Playground-v3
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