Stone Cold (33 page)

The lead scientist on this mission was Dr. Xavier Hamilton. Although their identities were supposed to be unknown, Conall recognized him from his
own research into post traumatic stress disorder treatments or PTSD for short. Dr. Hamilton had done extensive research on people with brain injuries. He found that oxygen therapy administered through a hyperbaric chamber showed significant improvement in their mental function. He called it HBOT, which was short for hyperbaric oxygen therapy. He used the same treatment given to divers with decompression illness and found that it was also effective in helping relieve PTSD. He’d recently been treating combat soldiers and Conall was more than interested in getting the treatment himself.

He could tell his mental state was starting to suffer from everything he’d seen and done during his tours. From the first time he’d arrived to date, he’d seen indescribable casualties that no one should ever be exposed to. Day after day, the death and destruction of war took its toll on the most hardened of minds. Conall was no exception. He knew he’d become detached and depressed but he had no idea when it had started. His mind had increasingly become flooded with unwelcome images of the carnage. The images would intrude without warning and he had no control over them.

During the transport, Conall had helped load a sizeable piece of equipment into a cargo plane
. When they landed in Iraq with the scientists, he helped to unload it and set it up in the lab. He was certain it was a hyperbaric chamber and hoped that Dr. Hamilton was going to use it on soldiers with head injuries and PTSD while he was there. If that was the case, he was going to ask for the treatment as well.

As
he was studying the chamber, Conall felt a presence behind him.

“Quite an interesting piece of equipment don’t you think?” Dr. Hamilton asked.

Conall turned to greet him.

“I’ve seen it before when I did some research about PTSD treatments.
I read about you and your work too. Will you be using it for that while you’re here?”

“Why do you ask? Are you interested in trying it?”

“Yes, I’d like to try it – not saying I have PTSD or anything but …”

He was hesitant to let anyone know that he was having a tough time dealing with some of the things he’d experienced in combat. He didn’t want to be thought of as weak.

“I do plan on using it to treat PTSD and traumatic brain injuries as the need arises. Please forgive me for asking but have you had a traumatic brain injury or TBI before? I can detect a slight tone in your speech that suggests that you did.”

Conall’s speech had been affected by the TBI he’d suffered from his car accident. It was hard to detect by the untrained ear after he’d had speech therapy but he would never be the same as before the accident.

“I had a serious TBI that put me in a coma for awhile when I was in high school. I had to learn how to talk again. Is it possible for this chamber therapy to help me with my TBI and other things? Again, not saying I have PTSD or anything but why not try it at least for the TBI?”

Dr. Hamilton was intrigued by Conall. He wanted to see if he would respond to the HBOT treatment.

“I think it can help you. I’d be willing to help you try it if you’re interested.”

“
I do want to try it. How soon can we start?”

“
Unfortunately, this isn’t the only reason I’m here. My primary responsibility is to work with the other scientists on a project I’m spearheading. The hyperbaric work will be done in my spare time. If you’re really serious about trying it we can begin tomorrow before I get started with my other work.”

“
I’ll have to arrange it with my unit but if they’re okay with it, that works for me.”

Conall couldn’t wait to start the treatment. H
e was anxious to see if his depression would lift and the images would fade. From what he’d read, Dr. Hamilton was an expert in his field and he trusted him to keep his best interests in mind.

Dr. Hamilton was both a scientist and a medical doctor. His first love was in the field of oxygen therapy but he was also an expert in genetic and microbial engineering.

Not long after the 9/11 attacks Dr. Hamilton was among a group of American scientists who were commissioned by the Department of Defense or the DoD, to develop a bacteria that would reduce or eliminate sperm production in males for an indefinite period of time.

The American government had b
een toying with this idea for decades. The premise behind this project is twofold; first, for future population control should the earth be unable to support its inhabitants. Second, to destroy the supply of men needed for military forces in anti American countries. If the males in enemy countries can’t produce sperm, no babies can be conceived. If no babies are conceived, there won’t be a supply of men to form an army.

It would take several decades after administering the
bacteria to reduce an enemy’s armed forces but the rewards would be well worth the wait. Eventually the current armies would die out and there would be no one left to take their places. There would be no casualties because the enemy wouldn’t be able to put up a fight.

Because of his expertise, Dr. Hamilton was
chosen to head the project. He and his team thought the easiest way to administer the bacteria en mass would be through a water supply. The bacteria would remain active in the water for two weeks. After that time, the water supply was safe but the effects on males would remain until they received the antidote. This would even work on male babies already in the womb.

Not only did the bacteria neutralize sperm,
it also made it impossible for a male to have an erection and eliminated his sex drive. The effects were permanent without the antidote.

The
scientists developed the antidote at the same time as the bacteria but only made one vial of it because the ingredients used to make it were so rare they had to be conserved until needed.

Dr. Hamilton and his team knew the power of what they were doing. If the bacteria or the formula to produce it ended up in the wrong hands it could cause a worldwide pandemic that could prevent reproduction and potentially wipe out the entire human race.

Since this was not their intention, t
hey needed to devise a way to protect any formulas used in the process.

Two of the scientists, Dr. Chan, and Dr. Gromodski, specialists in Botany and Ho
rticulture respectively, came up with a unique idea for storing the data.

They were familiar with exotic and rare plants and had been work
ing on the development of a special ink derived from two very rare flowers.

The first flower they used was the Strongylodon Macrobotrys or the Jade Vine. It was known for its unusual blue-green color and was pollinated by bats which hung upside down to drink the nectar. Its natural habitat in the
Philippines had been threatened by deforestation and it was rarely seen in the wild.

The other flower was
the Cosmos Atrosanguineus or the Chocolate Cosmos. It was native to Mexico and had been extinct from the wild for over 100 years. It had a rich deep brown color and smelled like vanilla. 

T
hese two flowers could be combined in such a way as to make a dark, almost black ink with a slightly blue undertone. They named the ink and consequently the project Dark Dragon. The ink contained properties from the flowers that had never been found in any other species on earth that were vital to its intended use.

It
was developed to be used to reveal text that was invisible to the naked eye. What made the ink unique was that it could only be activated through one medium - living human skin. Once applied to living skin, the ink was permanent and would penetrate the layers, interact with the DNA, and anything placed beneath it could be read under a special light called Firefly. The light functioned like a black light but used a bulb that was lined with the Dark Dragon ink. There were only fifty bulbs made. All but five were sent to the DoD for safekeeping. The rest were kept on site for testing.

Two other scientists on the team, Dr. Franck and Dr. Torres,
both chemical engineers, were responsible for making the ink from the flowers and other substances as needed. It had to be safe for human skin and had to appear to everyone else as nothing more than a harmless ink.

A
nother scientist, Dr. Reinhart, had helped Dr. Hamilton develop the bacteria and the antidote. Dr. Hamilton planned on putting the formulas for each of these, along with the ink formula, on separate microchips using the invisible text that could only be read beneath Dark Dragon applied to living human skin.

The only thing left was to figure out where to store the ink
, bacteria, antidote, and the microchips for safekeeping.

Dr. Hamilton called
the scientists together to determine the best course of action.

He explained
, “After we’ve created the ink, we have to safeguard the formulas for it, the bacteria, and the antidote on separate microchips. It’s up to us to determine where we can store the microchips so they don’t fall into the wrong hands. We also have to figure out how to store the ink for later use and where to safely store the Firefly light bulbs, the vials of bacteria, and the antidote that we make. Let’s brainstorm until we come up with something that’ll work.”

As far as the ink was concerned, t
he scientists had been thinking about this part of the operation from the start. They kicked around some ideas but in the end they all felt one stood out among the rest.

“It seems quite obvious that the best way to
store and then activate the ink is to apply it as a tattoo to a living person,” stated Dr. Chan.

Everyone got a chuckle out of her ‘living person’ reference.

Dr. Gromodski added, “I think we all agree with that statement. The question still at large is who should the tattoos be given to? I mean, correct me if I’m wrong, but this isn’t something we want just anyone to be involved in right?”

“No we don’t. It has to be someone who will be agreeable to getting a tattoo and it will be a design that we choose, not them,” said Dr. Hamilton.

“I’m guessing that we’re not going to tell the recipient what the significance of the tattoo is. Am I correct?” Dr. Torres made a good point.

Dr. Reinhart responded. “That’s correct. It may almost be worth giving it to someone who already has a very high security clearance level.”

Dr. Hamilton was about to speak when there was a knock on the door.

“Let me get that before we go on.”

He opened the door and Conall was standing there with another member of the special operations team.

“Sorry to bother you Dr. Hamilton but we were given orders to bring these supplies to you right away.”

“Oh, certainly Lieutenant Stone. You can put them in the supply room. Thank you.”

Conall
and the other soldier took the boxes into the supply room and when they returned, they were both shrugging their shoulders and rubbing them from the pain they’d felt from carrying the boxes.

“That box was heavy even for me.”
Conall laughed along with Dr. Hamilton at the irony.

The two soldiers left and Dr. Hamilton resumed the meeting.
As he was about to speak, he suddenly recalled something he’d just seen.

W
hen Lieutenant Stone had rubbed his shoulders he revealed a Celtic arm band tattoo on each bicep. They were similar to if not the same color as Dark Dragon.

“I think I know who we can give
these tattoos to.”

The scientists went silent and awaited his answer.

“I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before. We’re surrounded by a special operations team who are already sporting tattoos. They already have top secret security clearance and are trained not to question anything – to follow orders.”

Dr. Franck chimed in. “I see where you’re going with this. We can ask for permission from command to apply a tattoo to each man in the unit assigned to protect us. That’s eight in total and they won’t question the reason for the tattoos or reveal anything about them if they’re ordered not to.”

Dr. Hamilton agreed. “That’s exactly what I was thinking. It’s the perfect cover. No one ever questions military personnel tattoos because it’s almost a rite of passage to have them. We can make the design congruent with the ones they already have and no one will suspect a thing.”

“As long as the men are
alive, if anyone ever needs to read the formulas, the microchips can be inserted under their skin beneath their tattoo,” Dr. Chan stated.

“That’s the idea. I think it’s the best plan we’ve come up with so far.
Does everyone agree on this course of action?”

It was unanimous. All six scientists thought the tattoo
s would work but they still needed to figure out where to keep the light bulbs, the microchips and the vials.

Dr. Franck suggested,
“Let’s keep the microchips in the lab. We can freeze them in a block of ice and thaw them out when they’re needed. They can’t be read without the ink anyway and no one would expect them to be stored in ice.”