Chapter 15

"Hello, Mr. Erskine," I greeted the scientist in German, who met me at the entrance to his house.

"Really, Mr. Howlett, you can just address me by my first name," he answered me with a smile, but in English, and held out his hand.

— Then you can call me James, Abraham, "I replied to the handshake —" Shall we go into the house or directly to your laboratory?"

- Let's go to the house first — my wife makes excellent pies, we will eat and then we will start working on a full stomach — - the scientist suggested.

— Do you also sometimes forget about food when you are doing research? I asked with a smile.

— That, too, " he chuckled.

The scientist himself did not look at his sixty, at most at forty. It seems to me that someone has done something to himself… And it's definitely not his serum. Well, if we both succeed, he will tell you himself. And now we went to his house and went to the kitchen. There we were met by a woman who looks the same as her husband, that is, younger than her age.

The pies of Anita, his wife, turned out to be really delicious, so I ate them with great pleasure. After a small snack, Abraham took me to his laboratory, which, like mine, was located in the basement of his house. Inside, all the devices were placed so that it was convenient to work with them, and the sheets with formulas and theorems lay on the table, which was filled with all kinds of waste paper.

- Look, James — - the scientist drew my attention to himself while I was examining the room — - This is the first version of the serum that I was able to create — - in his hands there was a bottle with a bluish liquid inside.

I took it in my hand and began to examine it. The serum itself should be colorless, but due to some additives, so that it does not corrode everything it comes into contact with, the liquid turned blue. Yes, at first, the raw whey just worked like acid. But the Doctor and I have finalized the formula and now it is less aggressive in this regard.

— Have you tried applying it to animals? I ask, squinting at him.

- Yes, but there was no reaction from simply injecting it inside, but sometimes some animals started to get mad and their skin began to slide, - he began to tell — - Most likely this is due to the fact that their body and immunity began to reject the liquid itself, and in order for it to come out, the skin began to peel off, because the density of the serum is such that it simply cannot come out through the skin along with sweat.

- I see — - I drawled, - have you already realized that your serum requires an activator?

— So you found it out, too?" - Abraham was surprised, - Yes, I managed to find out that in order for her to start acting, she needs energy. And in your words, an activator.

— I think I can offer some support in this. I have one emitter that is able to emit a certain amount of radiation. This alone will not be enough for the serum to activate, "I said —" But I can modify it, and it will be able to release the necessary radiation, although we still have a problem with the power supply — such a device will need gigawatts of electricity to work.

- Really? Arskane asked with shock in his eyes, and I nodded — " Then our work will accelerate even more! Of course, the serum itself will need to be modified so that less energy is required for its activation and the energy source itself is extracted, but if I thought that our brainchild would be known in the world in at least twenty years, then with your modified emitter, which would take ten years to draw and create, this time has been halved! It will be…

- Calm down, Abraham, we still don't know what may happen in the future, — I interrupted him, — It's better to focus on our immediate goal — to create a normal emitter and refine the serum, and then we will think about the energy needed for this.

- Yes — - he shook his head, - Yes, you're right — let's focus on this for now.

"Okay —" I nodded, " now let's run some tests to find out the maximum dose and I also have some ideas about improving the serum.

In principle, the Doctor and I spent the whole next month fruitfully. We made a small adjustment in the formula for creating the liquid, and also approached the frequency of the necessary radiation so that it had a positive effect on the activation of the serum. No, the serum itself was ready and even worked, but for it to show all its effect, it should take at least thirty years, and even then, this is not accurate.

I took note of some developments and shared some of my own. Well, then there was no point in my staying in Germany, since everything that we could do together was done. Now we can work separately and sometimes write off to briefly outline the essence of the work done. So I went back to America. Vika and Sarah have already missed me, and Steve is constantly asking when I will be back.

After returning, the whole family went to have fun — a holiday, heh. At first, we decided to go to a restaurant to eat, since I arrived hungry. The girls chose it, so Steve and I just agreed with everything they said. No, I could have done it myself, but I wasn't interested in such things and I don't know which institution will be the best.

Soon the girls were able to decide on a choice and went to the "Wild Taste". I can already tell by the name of the restaurant that there will be something exotic there. The institution itself was close, so we walked and in about ten minutes we were already standing in front of the entrance. When we went inside, I felt a lot of aromas of different dishes.

A bell sounded and a girl in a work uniform came up to us, asking with a sweet smile if we had booked a table. I said no, but I'm ready to do it now. After paying the required amount, we followed the waitress who signed us up and sat down at the table shown. Then we were offered a menu and began to wait for the order.

Having chosen the dishes that interested us, we began to wait, and while everything is being prepared, we started a meaningless conversation. I asked them what happened to them new and how they lived this month. They are too. They talked about the weather, Steve's progress, how things were going at work. At the moment when the guy was telling us that he had a new friend, our order was brought to us.

— So, how did you say you met? I ask with interest.

"Well..." he shot a glance at his mother and looked at me pleadingly.

— Is there a story connected with this? - the girl was immediately wary.

- Eh — - he sighed, because he realized that he could not get away, - It happened right after Dad left — we have a new gang in town that takes money for just being able to pass through their territory, — Steve turned his head away, — One day walking next to me, I saw guys from this gang beating another for refusing to pay.

— What a horror! Sarah exclaimed.

— Well, I then stood up for him, and together we were able to somehow fend them off... - the guy pressed his head into his shoulders from the looks that the girls threw at him, — And then we met, and he told me his name — James Buchanan Barnes.