Chương 101: Book 4 - Chapter 1 A

It was December 4th, 1988, about 4am. I loudly screamed my frustration and kicked the stainless steel container. I was alone, working. I hadn't slept for days. The project was behind and I was working flat out. I screamed and kicked it again." You need sleep. Anything more you do will only cause further delays. Go and sleep, John," said the memory of voices, their chorus soft and soothing.

"I know this one won't work either. But I've got to waste time building it so the crew can get the next one right. But there's a deadline," I responded silently to the voices only I could hear. My heart lurched at the word 'deadline.'" Sleep, John. You will be on time. We know it is painful. We've felt this pain before, but you're experiencing it and for the first time it is not just a memory," they consoled. I went to the RV parked just outside the lab and slept. When I woke, it was mid-afternoon.

I took my time and made breakfast—just cereal with milk and a sliced banana. Then I took a hot shower and dressed for the day. I stepped into the December sunshine. The world seemed bright and cheerful. It felt wrong. I should explain why. My name is John W Cook, PhD. My oldest friend in the world is in the hospital. Amber Petworth has leukemia. She has had a bone marrow transplant but it is not enough.

Her donor was a younger cousin and there is a small sample remaining but the cousin can't donate more and more is needed. That's why I'm working. I'm building a bio-reactor. It will stimulate that small sample and help it grow. It will feed the sample, take away its waste and generate enough new tissue so Amber can receive an additional transplant. The transplant is working, but it just isn't growing fast enough to take over. She desperately needs more and soon. Emotionally, I'm on the edge.

I know that I can be successful. I know that I will be. But, I've never had this sort of thing happen in my life before. Of course, I am only twelve. I've done lots of things, been places and won awards. That just doesn't matter now, though. My knowledge and knowing I will succeed isn't just hope born of desperation. When I say I know, I really mean it. I'm omniscient. Since three months before my eighth birthday, I've been able to remember the future.

Not just the future, but all the futures I might possibly experience. I can remember failing at this task, attending her funeral, speaking and weeping on stage. I can remember her getting better, then relapsing. I can remember where I stepped in a year ago and helped her stop the cancer early. But none of those solutions were the right solution. The right solution really doesn't need Amber to survive. The right solution finds a treatment that helps everybody after her.

But having her survive without the right solution would be a cruel fate for the world. I need her to survive. I need a friend who will always remember me as that seven-year-old high school student. This isn't for the world, it's for me. It's for Amber too. My memories of the future include an infinite number of lifetimes, spent doing an infinite number of things. They have experienced grief, loss and life. To me, it has been the distance of a memory until now. Now it has actually happened.

My personal life experiences are finite and small against that infinite foreknowledge. I stepped back into the building I've purchased in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma where I'm building my bio-reactor. Today I smile and put on a happy face as I greet my work crews. The old building has a new smell. The chlorine of disinfectant overrides the old smell of aged concrete and fresh paint. A few engineers, a few medical doctors and a couple of biochemists. They know why they are here.

I called them, offered them money and brought them to work here in a crash bio-engineering program. My fame got their attention. My money got their time. The audacity of my plan got their devotion. I ran into a few serious faces. I waved them into a bare conference room.

"Tell me what you know," I request.

"The waste extraction chamber is buckled. There's no way to fix it. I'm sorry, John, we will have to start over from scratch," said Dr Alan Albright, leader of the project.

"Do we know why?" I asked.

"Unexpected thermal expansion while running. We have modified the design. It actually is better this way as each stage connects more easily," his assistant said, trying to reassure me.

"On to attempt four. Don't waste time dismantling number three, just push it to the side."

"It is a nine-day build schedule," Dr Albright warned.

"I'm authorizing overtime, but I don't want anybody getting sleepy and hurting themselves, or damaging the project, so limit it to ten-hour days."

"That is still nine days," he said.

"Thank you gentlemen. I know you'll do your best." I went to my office—just a small room with a bare desk with empty takeout containers, a chair and a phone. I dialed the number.

"Hey, it's me... I'm fine, I want to go to the hospital... Okay, see you in ten minutes." Ten minutes later a black limousine pulled up to the guard gate. I stepped past the gate and got in. A worried Matt was waiting for me in the back seat. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Hi Boss. You look like you've slept and showered. How are you?" he asked with careful concern.

"I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. The project will work and in time," I told him. Matt blew out a breath of relief to hear me sound positive. He's my second-oldest friend. He started out as a driver, bodyguard and general caretaker. Now he's my personal assistant and basically runs my daily life. He knows about some of my abilities. We've worked together for four years now. He's become a trusted friend and adopted older brother. Even if he's six-foot-eight and built like a locomotive.

I've given him my oath of protection, he's given me the oath of his life. We arrived at the hospital and one of my security team opened the door and signals for my exit. Matt follows along behind me like a big black shark chasing a little white fish. My security has a permanent presence here, they are already deployed behind and in front. The hospital staff waves in greeting, but no one tries to stop me as I head for the patient areas. My shoes squeak down the institutional linoleum as I move rapidly.

They don't even question Matt to find out if he's carrying a gun. My $10 million donation bought both Amber and me miles of leeway. I got to the room and nodded at her brother, Clark.

"Is she awake?" I asked softly.

"I'm awake, John!" she said smiling.

"Did you bring me a present?"

"Not this time. Maybe next time. What do you want? A pony? Not really enough room in here for a horse but a pony might just fit," I told her, looking around as if I'm mentally measuring the hospital room. Her face was tired, but her eyes were alight with joy and giggles. She had lost so much weight. She had ended her first year at the Oklahoma State University nursing program about fifteen pounds heavier than she had ever been. That was gone now, along with a lot more.

Much of her former vitality as head-cheerleader, gossip-monger and blonde bombshell was gone, but it still lurked in her eyes. I sat in the chair next to her bed and she reached out to take my hand. With her other hand she picked up my first gift to her after she became sick. It was shaped like a hand mirror, except it was completely clear. I hadn't told her it was made of diamond. She thought it was glass. She held it up between us, like I had taught her.

Because I had told her that my present was a 'magic mirror,' she said, "Mirror, mirror in the hand, show me who cares about me." I gave her a beaming smile back through the clear center of the fake mirror, looking into those tired blue eyes.

"Just had to check, since you didn't bring me a present," she said, giggling. After she carefully put the 'mirror' away again, we softly talked for an hour before she became sleepy. Just as she was drifting off she said, "Wear my shirt next time, John." I said goodbye to Clark and headed back to the limousine with Matt. He escorted me to his office where we reviewed what was going on across my economic empire. Axis Productions, my first foray into mergers and acquisitions, had a purchase offer.

The stakeholders wanted to sell. It was a half-billion-dollar windfall for me, between my 25% stake and the buy out of my image compression algorithms, patents and software. These days that was nothing. My graphene technology and 15% ownership of Corning was generating more than that every year already. I made a note authorizing my trusted lawyer and friend, Jennifer Parz, to vote to approve the sale. Best to make it unanimous. Oprah had invited me on her show.

I made a note that confirmed I'd be available in April, as planned. There were a few other details to take care of. Eventually, I made it back to the bio-reactor to check on progress. Matt went and got us dinner and brought it back to the RV. After eating together at the small table, he left for the night to his own hotel room. Our Oklahoma City operation wasn't very big, as it was meant to be temporary.

My normal work office was at General Atomics in San Diego, California and my corporate office was at my ocean-front home in a San Diego suburb called La Jolla, though Jennifer managed most of the details from her constantly growing office in Tulsa. This new project was the first of what I was calling 'Dream Teams.' Gathering a group of people together to solve a single problem, pay them well and support the research and development.

Slipping them some advanced technology from the future while I was at it, then I let them discover it and figure it out on their own. I had to leave the bio-reactor group the next day and fly to Washington State, with a stop off in San Diego. First I made a quick visit to Amber to let her know I would be out of town. She saw me as I came through the door into her hospital room and burst into laughter.

"You wore my shirt!" I looked down at it. It was good to hear her laugh. The shirt said: 'I'm John Cook and I belong here.' I shrugged and tried to pull it down.

"Between the dryer and the years that have gone by, it has shrunk, I guess."

"You grew up!" she laughed.

"I can't believe you still have it, how long ago was that?"

"Three years, seven months and two days."

"Don't be a show off, John the Genius," she mocked. She followed tradition and lifted the 'magic mirror.'

"Mirror, mirror in my hand, who loves me most in the world?" I just smiled back at her through the clear mirror as she sighed and put it carefully away again. I looked past her and most of the breakfast still sitting in front of her. Her Mom had a chair in the corner and was watching us with a wry smile.

"Hi, Mrs Petworth. How are you today?"

"John, I told you to call me Janet."

"Is our favorite patient behaving herself today?" I asked.

"She's been in a mood. Just wants to watch TV," Janet said.

"The new show you told me about is premiering today, Kitchen Stadium. I'm really excited to watch it."

"Is it? I haven't been really paying attention. Tell me if you don't like it. I'll fire somebody for you." She laughed.

"I love your new TV station. It helps me be hungry when it's time to eat."

"You'll like Kitchen Stadium. I got Mr Miyagi to host it."

"The guy from Karate Kid? I love that movie!" she said, some of her old excited energy showing.

"I know," I told her.

"I'm telling you now so you don't get too excited later." She pished and leaned back further into her pillows.

"I'm not going to get excited just because Food TV has an actor from my favorite movie. Ralph Macchio is the sexy one in it anyway."

"Well you're going to like Graham Kerr. He's the chef to beat in the first episode."

"Is he cuter than Ralph?" she asked. I made a face.

"I'm not really equipped to answer that question," I said, to get a laugh from her and her Mom.

"I've heard of him," Janet said.

"Isn't he Canadian?"

"Yeah, imagine James Bond as a celebrity chef."

"Oh, I think I'll like that," Amber said and I noticed her Mom nodding too. I smiled knowing I'd have good news soon.

"I can't stay, I've got to take off for a few days. But I'll be back soon. I just wanted to check on you, before I went."

"I'll be here when you get back John," she promised. I waved bye and headed back to the waiting limo.