23 - Priority

If everything goes smoothly, it is not impossible to obtain the refined drug by the end of the year.

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The room quickly broke into an uproar.

"Naturally it has to be someone who needs it urgently!" Hong Xizhen raised his voice.

"I don't think so, Mr. Hong," Efrem Stokes, the richest man in entire Africa commented. "We have all contributed equal amount of money to this project every month. If you get it, I must also get it."

"Yes, besides, look at what happened with Atticus Bates after he injected himself with LK-92. He was not only healed from his last stage cancer but also gained his supernatural power from there," Alana Mikhailovna clicked with her tongue in dissatisfaction.

"Then I want the third," Hideki arched his brow at the other two, malice flashing in his eyes.

"Now wait, that is simply unfair for everyone!" Adam Kent exclaimed, his remark was followed by angry murmurs from other members.

"Then what are you going to do, eh?" Hideki said in a taunting tone

"Do you want to fight?"

"Mr. Kanno, please be reasonable!"

"We all deserve to get the drug!"

"I also want some!"

"What if we split the three vials among us?" Clarisse Daucort suggested, annoyed by the ongoing argument.

"Well, that doesn't really work, my Lady," Prince Zayden shook his head regretfully. "A vial is the dosage necessary to trigger the genetic change. Anything less than that will be utterly useless."

Clarisse Daucort sighed.

"Well then it was pretty stupid to bring only three vials to this meeting, no???"

"Exactly!" Anand Srivastava, the multibillionaire from India piped up, his face full of disbelief. "Dr. Schlinger, you should have come here with enough drugs for everyone!"

"Enough! Enough, everyone!" Byron Thorne's voice cut through the chaos. "Will everyone please calm down!"

"EXCUSE ME!" Miriam Schlinger cried out from the platform. "I am not done with my presentation yet. These vials are not fit for consumption, at least not safely!"

A hush fell over the room as all eyes turned to the scientist. The stutter and stammer that plagued her a while ago were gone.

"Explain, Dr. Schlinger."

Byron gestured for the others to take their seats. "We are listening."

Miriam licked her lips nervously.

"These three vials," she said with a dramatic hand flourish, "are the LK-92 I synthetized to imitate the real one. In other words, they are prototypes. They shouldn't even be called LK-92."

"What we want is LK-92, though," Alana rolled with her eyes. "Else why are we even here?"

"LK-92 was invented by Mr. Heinrich Krausser, not by Atticus Bates," Miriam had to remind the entire consortium. "This is a fact known to everyone. Unless Mr. Krausser can somehow be revived, we will never see LK-92 again."

"Name it whatever you want," Hideki Kanno growled. "As long as it can make us go through the third evolution, we couldn't care less what it is called."

Miriam closed her eyes for a split second before she took a deep breath and addressed the rich and prominent consortium members again.

"This prototype here has the potential to trigger the third evolution, but it is not LK-92. Its adverse effects are unknown, therefore it is very dangerous to consume the prototype before any clinical studies are done."

"You said that the adverse effects are unknown, but surely you have some ideas," Hong Xizhen said full of hope.

"I will not exclude death," Miriam said, extinguishing the flame of hope in everyone's eyes in an instant. No supernatural power was worth the risk of dying.

"So what do we need to do?" Byron Thorne asked Miriam.

"I plan to distribute these vials to three random people," Miriam replied. "Preferably mental patients, or homeless people. Anyone, whose death wouldn't trigger any suspicion.

And then, using the datas I gain from the three people, dead or alive, I shall refine this prototype until it turns into a harmless drug that is similar or even better than LK-92."

A hum of understanding went through the auditorium, followed by approving head nods.

"That sounds great," Prinze Zayden raised his champagne in Miriam's direction. "A lot better than the zero progress we got during the past fourteen years."

A ghost of a smile crept toward Miriam's lips. She sneaked a furtive glance in Martha's direction. The woman winked at her in encouragement.

"Alright then. Please make the proper arrangement, Dr. Schlinger."

Byron was more than happy to leave the meeting without clawing at any members for a vial of the untested drug.

"Thank you, Mr. Thorne. I shall report the progress of the clinical studies regularly. For now, this prototype drug shall be referred to as TEC-001, courtesy of the Third Evolution Consortium."

Clarisse Daucort scoffed and made a dismissive wave with her hand.

"Name it whatever you want. Just... Hurry, alright? We don't want to wait another fourteen years."

"You won't," Miriam confidently said. "I only need around five rounds of clinical studies... I will try my best to get as many data as possible from the patients.

If everything goes smoothly, it is not impossible to obtain the refined drug by the end of the year."

"You sound confident," Hong Xizhen commented. "I hope that you make it before my sickness claims me."

"I will do my best," Miriam swallowed hard.

Success in this endeavor would propel her to legendary status within the fields of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology. Another Nobel Prize in the same field, a recognition that would dwarf the achievements of Atticus Bates, could very well follow.

Alone the ambitious thoughts were enough to fan the flame in Miriam's heart. She had to achieve her goal no matter what!